9/11 United Suit Rejected By New York Judge

A 9/11 suit against United was rejected by a New York judge, who said United Airlines can’t be held responsible for the collapse of a World Trade Center building during the September 11 attack.

A federal judge, Alvin Hellerstein, rejected the 9/11 United suit, saying that the airline is not at fault for the collapse of 7 World Trade Center. American Airlines Flight 11 was one of the planes to crash into the World Trade Center on 9/11, causing some pieces of debris to damage the facade of 7 World Trade Center and leading to the collapse of the smaller building later that day.

As The Associated Press had noted, the 9/11 United suit was one of several brought by the corporate entity that owns 7 World Trade Center.

The judge who decided that the 9/11 United suit should be rejected noted that there was no way the airline could have predicted the series of events that caused the building to collapse.

Hellerson wrote:

“It was not within United’s range of apprehension that terrorists would slip through the (Portland) security screening checkpoint, fly to Logan, proceed through another air carrier’s security screening and board that air carrier’s flight, hijack the flight and crash it into 1 World Trade Center, let alone that 1 World Trade Center would therefore collapse and cause Tower 7 to collapse.”

The 9/11 United suit that was rejected was brought by Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder of the World Trade Center property, Reuters noted. The judge noted that United and its parent company United Continental Holdings Inc. will be dismissed of all negligence claims.