http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/15/attacks.suit/index.html WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Acknowledging the odds are against them, relatives of the September 11 attacks filed a 15-count, $116 trillion lawsuit Thursday against the company run by Osama bin Laden's family, Saudi Arabian princes and Sudan. someone post a picture of Dr. Evil
Widows of four September 11 victims listen as the lawsuit is announced. Something tells me there are more tears of joy than sadness.
That's pretty calloused. They lost their husbands, brothers or sons in the event. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They know this will never be successful...they're just trying to make a statement.
Well, when you add that many families in the tragedy, loved ones lost, how much income they lost, losing authority figures (firemen, policemen, etc.), I'm pretty sure that comes close to the total or not even close at all. But I know they sure deserve it from all the hell they went through. I couldn't imagine the pain...
Well assume a 25 year old trader...he'll work for 40 more years at an average salary of $150,000. 150,000 * 40 = 6,000,000 Now there were 2,900 dead at WTC. Assume half of them fall into the above category and the other half fall into a $75,000 bracket. 1,450 * 6,000,000 = 8,700,000,000 1,450 * 3,000,000 = 4,350,000,000 ------------------- 13,050,000,000 That's over $13 billion just in lost wages. That's not taking into consideration any of the soft damages (loss of affection, pain and suffering, etc) that make up a HUGE part of many judgments. And then there are punitives. It may be inflated...but not by a hell of a lot. You are talking about a huge class of plaintiffs. Before you even reply...I know that my figures are highly speculative and possibly flawed...but it is just a reasonable hypo to illustrate.
I'm curious as far as these lawsuits... would a lawsuit against the airline be at all successful.. i'm not sure what the exact laws are but would the airline be responsible for damages caused by their planes.. and would they be considered negligent in anyway.. ? maybe for letting people on planes with box cutters or whatever.they had. ? i really have no idea but i've been curious.. someone has to pay for the rebuilding of WTC and pentagon.. is it the governments responsibility..? i know no one is to blame besides bid laden and the evil terrorists.. but i'm curious if the airlines have any responsiblity since it was their planes... or maybe some of it is the responsiblity of the people in charge of screening etc.. federal aviation or whatever they are called....? the reason I asked if because i thought i heard a lot of insurances dont cover acts of terror.. so i'm curious who pays for all the damage
you can do all the math you want... but every time someone is wrongfully killed in this world, are we supposed to sue??? what about the victims of Pearl Harbor? What about the innocent guy that was probably killed somewhere in this country as I type this post? Should they sue as well? we've become a "sue-happy" society and its just plain disgusting... tobacco, fast food, death... when will it end?
If the defendants had anything to do with funding al-Queda, then they should be made to pay. Tobacco and fast food are a different story...I also think those suits are crazy. Nobody MAKES people smoke or eat Big Macs...but funding a group that flies planes into buildings is a big different story. I'm sorry you don't like the civil law system...perhaps you can think of better.
The airline probably won't be held liable in this case. There was an intervening crime. Generally this makes the non crime committing party not liable. I don't know what the law in NY is though. I doubt they'd be held liable for letting them on the planes because they were following FAA guidelines. This tends to make them not negligent. It will largely come from insurance policies I believe. If not then whoever rebuilds the WTC will do so because it will be profitable. The Pentagon will be funded by tax dollars I would imagine. It sucks but that's probably where we stand.
Exactly. $116,000,000,000,000?!?!?!?!?! Is that even a real number? We Americans feel like suing every body. I am sick and tired of it. These dorks suing tobacco companies, fast food companies, etc are complete morons. I mean a freakin child knows that a cigarette is bad for you. If you dont want to get sick, then dont freakin smoke it!
I don't know if that is a real number...I'd have to look at their damages calculation. In any suit, they will have to prove up their damages. I agree with you on the cigarette and fast food suits...there is no way that these companies are to blame. But in the case at hand there are real damages that are caused by real people and those responsible for putting that ball in motion should be held accountable to those injured. That's how this is different then the tobacco and fast food suits. Those cases are somebody blaming companies for their poor life decisions. The two are just different.
Wasn't some of the original basis in the lawsuits against tobacco is that they lied and didn't disclose the dangers that they knew about? If someone starts smoking now, well they are idiots. But I thought that most of the people that were suing tobacco were older smokers that got hooked before they knew what it caused? The WTC will be paid for by Insurance companies. I think there is another thread about this, something to do with the insurance company only wanting to pay for a single instance instead of both terrorist attacks on the WTC towers. Around 7 billion I think.
That's over $13 billion just in lost wages. That's not taking into consideration any of the soft damages (loss of affection, pain and suffering, etc) that make up a HUGE part of many judgments. And then there are punitives. $116 TRILLION is more than the entire world's GNP many times over. The US GNP is about $7 trillion, so this represents every dollar every American would earn for the next 15+ years (assuming no real growth). I know you can't really put loss of life into numbers, but you're talking punitive damages of about $40 BILLION per person killed. For reference, the tobacco settlement was something like $300 billion for the millions of lives affected - or the equivalent of the damages for 8 people in this lawsuit. Of course, the numbers are really irrelevant in terms of reality. Outside of a publicity thing, I wonder what the purpose behind this is. None of these people / nations being sued would ever recognize any type of verdict in a case like this from the US courts anyway.
Could this be a ploy to put more heat on Saudia Arabia? Aren't we supposedly thinking of attacking Saudi also? Maybe a way to generate support for a middle east conflict? (I'm Pro-Bush, Pro Attack Iraq)
There are military men that served in Desert Storm who are suing Iraq due to inhumane treatment as POWs. The judgment/settlement will be paid out of Iraqui interests seized in the US. If the corporations sued in this suit were found liable any property/interests they hold in the US will be seized in partial satisfaction of the judgment.
The last we heard from the President Saudi Arabia is our "friend." The quotes around friend should be read as Refman doesn't believe it for a heartbeat. We have made buddy buddy with them so we can use their land and airspace to stage an Iraq attack. (I'm pro-Bush and Iraq attack too)
