A six-member jury at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan found the Port Authority negligent in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The jury even assigned blame for the February 26, 1993 bombing by saying the Port Authority was 68% responsible and the terrorists who planted the bomb in the parking structure under the WTC were 32% responsible. Apparently a 1985 Port Authority report had list various concerns about the parking structure, explicitly saying:
A time-bomb-laden vehicle could be driven into the W.T.C. and parked in the public parking area. The driver would then exit via elevator into the W.T.C. and proceed with his business unnoticed. At a predetermined time, the bomb could be exploded in the basement. The amount of explosives used will determine the severity of damage to that area.
Well, when you put it that way... The PA's executive director, Peter Goldmark, who headed up that report actually left the agency around the same time it was issued, and jurors implied his absence left the WTC vulnerable.
There are over 400 lawsuits from the 1993 bombing pending against the PA, and since the PA is more than 50% liable, the agency will have to pay 100% of the damages. The Port Authority's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said, "To hold the Port Authority twice as liable as these terrorists for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing stands logic, rationality and reason on its head," while the plaintiff's lawyer David Dean said, "Nobody hates terrorists more than the victims of terrorism, [but] this case was never about blaming the terrorists. It was always about the failure of the Port Authority to respond to their own reports."
Wikipedia on the 1993 WTC bombing.
