9-11 VICTIM FAMILIES BATTLING FOR JUSTICE

Ellen Mariani Back in Court to Find Out Whether Judge Will Hear Her 9-11 Case

By Jerry Mazza

On June 14, in Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein’s spacious courtroom atop the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street in New York, a true David-versus-Goliath story played out. It involved a case that is being brought by the remaining plaintiffs who did not take the 9-11 Victim Compensation money following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Lawyers from United Air Lines, American Airlines, Boeing Corporation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and World Trade Center Properties filled half the paneled courtroom. A packed gallery filled the other half. Among these attorneys was a smaller number of lawyers for the plaintiffs who did not take the government’s handout.

Eligibility for the Victim Compensation Fund required victims’ “physical harm or death” as a result of one of the crashes, or being the personal representative of a deceased victim. But the hook was the waiver of a claimant’s right to file a lawsuit if he or she filed for fund money.

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