Sept. 11 damages cases against airlines settle Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:04pm EDT
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The plaintiffs in more than a third of the remaining suits filed by relatives of Sept. 11 victims seeking compensation from airlines and their security contractors have agreed to settle a week before the first case was to be heard in court.
Fourteen of 35 remaining cases were settled, including a case filed by the wife of Patrick Driscoll, who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. That case was due to be the first Sept. 11 damages case to go to trial -- on Sept. 24.
Donald Migliori, who represents Driscoll's wife and many of the other plaintiffs, said that under the settlement, the plaintiffs agreed not to disclose the details of financial compensation.
Migliori said the settlements occurred after the judge presiding over the cases ruled last week that cockpit tapes of the final moments before Flight 93 crashed could be played in the Driscoll case.
Twenty-one cases remain. Of these, three are related to American Airlines Flight 11 and two to United Airlines Flight 175, which both crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.
Fifteen cases are related to American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon, and one case remains over United Airlines Flight 93.
The 96 families of victims who initially sued several airlines, including AMR Corp's (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) American Airlines and UAL Corp's (UAUA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) United Airlines, for wrongful death argued the airlines and security contractors were at fault for letting hijackers board with banned weapons.
Those families decided against taking part in a special victims compensation fund set up by U.S. Congress that disbursed $5.99 billion to 2,880 families of people killed in the attacks.
A number of the cases were settled over the past several years.
The next of the remaining cases is due to be heard in court on Nov. 5.