June trial date set in 9/11 wrongful death suit

A federal judge in Manhattan Wednesday set a June trial date for the first - and possibly only - civil wrongful-death trial to result from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, after years of litigation that produced settlements in every other case.

The lawsuit was filed by the family of Mark Bavis, of West Newton, Mass., a scout for the Los Angeles Kings hockey team who was aboard United Airlines Flight 175 when it struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The lawsuit blames the airline and several other firms for security failures that led to the attacks.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein set June 13 as the trial date. The Bavis family's lawyer, Donald Migliori, said outside court in Manhattan that the family is grateful they will get to fully discuss their claims.

"The Bavis family feels very strongly that the information about how checkpoint security failed wholesale on Sept. 11 needs to be brought out into the public light," Migliori said.

United Flight 175, bound from Boston to Los Angeles, was carrying 51 passengers, seven flight attendants and two pilots when it crashed into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.

Migliori said the Bavis family, which includes the victim's twin brother, his mother and other siblings, has the support of other families who had brought 95 lawsuits on behalf of 96 victims. All other lawsuits were settled.

Migliori said lawyers for the Bavis family had obtained 200 depositions related to airport checkpoint security, and those depositions should be made public.

SEE PHOTOS9/11/2001 in photos

"It's such a thoroughly investigated issue. There's no way everybody doesn't benefit from it," he said.

The family's case, he said, was "premised on the idea that 19 for 19 hijackers got through these checkpoints and carried out a concerted hijacking that should have been prevented."

At trial, the airline and several security companies sued by the family are expected to argue that they properly followed government security directives issued before the attacks. A lawyer for the defendants declined to comment after Wednesday's hearing.The judge said United Airlines and the security companies would likely try to show a jury that it followed all security rules, and that lawyers for the Bavis family will try to show the defendants "made too many practical decisions in the interests of moving people along."

The judge said the trial was expected to end by July 22. He refused a request by some lawyers to combine the trial with the claims of companies that blamed the same airline industry defendants for property damage. The judge predicted that those lawsuits will likely settle.

"My feeling is that there will only be one trial," he said.