Since Sept. 11, 2001, every legal claim for people injured or killed in the attacks has been resolved…except one. Mark Bavis, a 31-year-old hockey scout from Boston, died on United Airlines Flight 175, and his family has no intention of joining the large group of victims and their families who’ve settled their lawsuits. The suit isn’t about the money, they tell the New York Times: It’s about holding United and other defendants accountable in a public courtroom.
“The security breaches that day,” including security checkpoint failures, flawed cockpit doors, and ignored government warnings, “were absolutely known to these defendants before 9/11, and should have been addressed before this could happen,” says their lawyer. Though some doubt a trial will be helpful, another victim’s wife, who settled her lawsuit, praises the Bavises: “I always hoped that there would be at least one—it only takes one family—to hold out and bring them to trial and get the answers that everyone deserves.”
(More Mark Bavis stories.)