A judge has ruled that the World Trade Center's developers cannot collect on the billions of dollars in damages from companies whose planes were commandeered on the September 11 terrorist attacks.
World Trade Center Properties first filed a suit against United Airlines, American Airlines and other aviation companies in 2004, claiming their negligence resulted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center towers and resulted in the deaths of 2,752 people.
According to CNN, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein agreed with the airlines who argued the developers were in essence trying to "double" dip" by getting money both from the airlines and from their insurance policies.
Hellerstein, who reportedly hears cases related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks frequently, previously denied a motion filed by the airlines to have the case dismissed from court based on the $4.9 billion in insurance payouts to WTCP since 2001.
A complaint was filed by World Trade Center Properties in which it outlined specific complaints it had regarding the airline's responsibility for the attacks. In the complaint, the WTCP claimed the aircraft lacked proper cockpit doors that would have prevented unauthorized people from getting access to the plane's controls, a lack of an alarm system to alert the government to a hijacking, security contractors at Boston Logan and Portland, Maine airports for inadequate security as reasons for the blame for the attacks to be placed on them.
"Every step of the way, defendants were negligent and reckless," the complaint stated, "These breaches of duty proximately caused the destruction of One World Trade Center, Five World Trade Center and Seven World Trade Center on September 11. "
According to court documents, WTCP has said it spent more than $8 billion to replace the twin towers, all the while being obligated to continue paying rent to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Despite all of this, the court has ruled the in favor of the defendants who argued that insurance payments were made to compensate WTCP for economic loss as a result of the attacks. Because this compensation filled the exact financial hole the WTCP was trying to sue to fill, the court rendered the claims invalid.
