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Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- A New York jury said the owner of the World Trade Center was legally responsible in the 1993 terrorist bombing that killed six people and injured 1,000.
The civil trial jury today found the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 68 percent liable for the attack, in which terrorists detonated explosives in a rented van in the 400-car garage under the former twin towers. The terrorists were 32 percent liable, the jury said.
The trial consolidated more than 400 cases, including suits filed by people injured by the blast, the families of the dead and businesses. There will now be separate trials to determine damages for the various parties affected by the attack.
``This was an extraordinary victory, and we're deeply grateful to the jurors,'' said David Dean, a lawyer for survivors and relatives of those who died ``This case was never about blaming the terrorists. It was always about the failure of the Port Authority to respond to their own reports and to the advice of others. The garage should have been closed.''
The liability finding of greater than 50 percent allows the plaintiffs to seek full payment of damages from the Port Authority, Dean said.
A lawyer for the Port Authority said it will appeal.
``The February 26, 1993, attack on the World Trade Center was an act of terrorism for which terrorists alone are responsible,'' Marc Kasowitz, the lawyer, said after the verdict. ``While the Port Authority believes in our American jury system, it believes the decision in this case was egregiously incorrect.
`Strong Grounds for Appeal'
``The Port Authority believes that there are extremely strong grounds for appeal based on errors made by the court during this trial, and the Port Authority is confident it will prevail.''
At the month-long trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued the Port Authority bore primary responsibility for the death and destruction by ignoring five reports that said the underground parking garage was a prime target for a terrorist attack.
The Port Authority, a two-state, quasi-governmental agency, didn't close the garage because it would have inconvenienced tenants and lost money, plaintiffs' lawyers argued.
Authorities said the bombers hoped one of the twin towers would collapse on the other when the bomb went off. Neither collapsed.
The attack led to the convictions of four men about a year later. Ramzi Yousef was convicted in 1997 of masterminding the attack and planting the bomb. He was also found guilty in a federal court of plotting to blow up a dozen U.S. jets.
240-Year Sentence
Yousef was sentenced to 240 years in prison, a punishment that was upheld by an appeals court last year.
Port Authority lawyers said attacks at the World Trade Center were inevitable, given the towers' status as a symbol of American capitalism. The agency contends it acted responsibly and that almost nothing could have prevented terrorist attacks against the center.
Lawyers weren't permitted by the trial judge, Justice Nicholas Figueroa of state Supreme Court, to discuss the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the skyscrapers.
The trial focused on a 1985 report commissioned by the Port Authority that called the World Trade Center a ``most attractive terrorist target.''
The report's author, Edward O'Sullivan, a former Port Authority mechanical engineer, testified that executives of the authority rejected his recommendations that included closing the parking garage.
O'Sullivan said the former Port Authority executive director, Stephen Berger, told him the recommendations wouldn't be implemented and another study would be done by a different group.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Mumma in New York at [email protected]. Last Updated: October 26, 2005 18:18 EDT
The civil trial jury today found the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 68 percent liable for the attack, in which terrorists detonated explosives in a rented van in the 400-car garage under the former twin towers. The terrorists were 32 percent liable, the jury said.
The trial consolidated more than 400 cases, including suits filed by people injured by the blast, the families of the dead and businesses. There will now be separate trials to determine damages for the various parties affected by the attack.
``This was an extraordinary victory, and we're deeply grateful to the jurors,'' said David Dean, a lawyer for survivors and relatives of those who died ``This case was never about blaming the terrorists. It was always about the failure of the Port Authority to respond to their own reports and to the advice of others. The garage should have been closed.''
The liability finding of greater than 50 percent allows the plaintiffs to seek full payment of damages from the Port Authority, Dean said.
A lawyer for the Port Authority said it will appeal.
``The February 26, 1993, attack on the World Trade Center was an act of terrorism for which terrorists alone are responsible,'' Marc Kasowitz, the lawyer, said after the verdict. ``While the Port Authority believes in our American jury system, it believes the decision in this case was egregiously incorrect.
`Strong Grounds for Appeal'
``The Port Authority believes that there are extremely strong grounds for appeal based on errors made by the court during this trial, and the Port Authority is confident it will prevail.''
At the month-long trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued the Port Authority bore primary responsibility for the death and destruction by ignoring five reports that said the underground parking garage was a prime target for a terrorist attack.
The Port Authority, a two-state, quasi-governmental agency, didn't close the garage because it would have inconvenienced tenants and lost money, plaintiffs' lawyers argued.
Authorities said the bombers hoped one of the twin towers would collapse on the other when the bomb went off. Neither collapsed.
The attack led to the convictions of four men about a year later. Ramzi Yousef was convicted in 1997 of masterminding the attack and planting the bomb. He was also found guilty in a federal court of plotting to blow up a dozen U.S. jets.
240-Year Sentence
Yousef was sentenced to 240 years in prison, a punishment that was upheld by an appeals court last year.
Port Authority lawyers said attacks at the World Trade Center were inevitable, given the towers' status as a symbol of American capitalism. The agency contends it acted responsibly and that almost nothing could have prevented terrorist attacks against the center.
Lawyers weren't permitted by the trial judge, Justice Nicholas Figueroa of state Supreme Court, to discuss the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the skyscrapers.
The trial focused on a 1985 report commissioned by the Port Authority that called the World Trade Center a ``most attractive terrorist target.''
The report's author, Edward O'Sullivan, a former Port Authority mechanical engineer, testified that executives of the authority rejected his recommendations that included closing the parking garage.
O'Sullivan said the former Port Authority executive director, Stephen Berger, told him the recommendations wouldn't be implemented and another study would be done by a different group.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Mumma in New York at [email protected]. Last Updated: October 26, 2005 18:18 EDT
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