Appeals court lets Sept. 11 suits resume

Source: Associated Press

A federal appeals panel on Friday agreed that lawyers can resume their work on behalf of thousands of workers who say they were not properly protected as they cleaned up the World Trade Center site after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The legal work had temporarily stopped while lawyers for New York City and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey asked the court to give them immunity from nearly 8,000 workers' claims.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it had not yet decided the immunity issue, but lawyers could resume gathering evidence for trials that might be years away.

"On balance, we conclude that the public interest favors permitting pretrial proceedings to resume, thereby hastening the trial that might result in compensation for at least some plaintiffs during their lifetime," the panel wrote.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_on_re_us/attacks_lawsuits_1