Jan 17, 2006 11:32 am US/Eastern
9/11 Families Cant Sue Over Faulty Radios
Supreme Court Upholds Appellate Court Decision
(AP) WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court is not allowing families of New York firefighters to sue for alleged faulty radios that were in use at the World Trade Center terror attacks.
The Supreme Court let stand a decision by a lower appellate court that dismissed the lawsuit. The families blamed the city and Motorola for supplying firefighters with handheld communications devices that prevented them from hearing evacuation orders while they were in the north tower trying to rescue people.
A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the families had waived their right to sue when they accepted money from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
The firefighters' families argued that the lower courts had misinterpreted the law and Congress' intent.
The families accused New York and Motorola of entering into a no-bid contract that supplied firefighters with ineffective radios that did not work in high-rise buildings.
The equipment was the same model that had been used by rescuers during the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. The September 11th Commission said the radios didn't work then and didn't work on 9/11.
The FDNY lost 343 members on 9/11.
9/11 Families Cant Sue Over Faulty Radios
Supreme Court Upholds Appellate Court Decision
(AP) WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court is not allowing families of New York firefighters to sue for alleged faulty radios that were in use at the World Trade Center terror attacks.
The Supreme Court let stand a decision by a lower appellate court that dismissed the lawsuit. The families blamed the city and Motorola for supplying firefighters with handheld communications devices that prevented them from hearing evacuation orders while they were in the north tower trying to rescue people.
A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the families had waived their right to sue when they accepted money from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
The firefighters' families argued that the lower courts had misinterpreted the law and Congress' intent.
The families accused New York and Motorola of entering into a no-bid contract that supplied firefighters with ineffective radios that did not work in high-rise buildings.
The equipment was the same model that had been used by rescuers during the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. The September 11th Commission said the radios didn't work then and didn't work on 9/11.
The FDNY lost 343 members on 9/11.
