$________ AWARD - PORT AUTHORITY NEGLIGENCE - ALLEGED FAILURE TO CLOSE GARAGE DESPITE KNOWN VULNERABILITY TO TERRORIST ATTACK PRIOR TO FIRST WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING - PHYSICAL INJURIES AND MENTAL DISORDERS CLAIMED BY PLAINTIFF SURVIVOR WHO WAS STRUCK BY DEBRIS IN PARKING GARAGE.

New York County, NY

Following the original ________ World Trade Center terrorist attack in the parking garage of WTC 1, the female plaintiff contended that she suffered short-term memory disorder and post- traumatic stress disorder as well as physical injuries after the explosion. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant Port Authority negligently failed to close the parking garage despite a report on its vulnerability to terrorism. As a result, Islamic terrorists were able to park a rental truck loaded with explosives in the garage and cause it to explode, causing the plaintiff who was exiting her vehicle 1 floor above to be struck by debris and suffer mental, emotional and physical disorders including lung injuries from smoke inhalation related to the attack. The plaintiff contended that her injuries caused her work performance to suffer, ultimately resulting in her termination as a senior benefits manager for a Big-5 accounting firm. The defendant denied that the plaintiff suffered any brain injuries during the bombing and contended that she could have found alternate employment after her termination following the incident.

The evidence revealed that on the day of the first World Trade Center attack on February 25, ________, the then 45-year-old plaintiff was employed as a senior benefits manager for Deloitte & Touche, LLP, working on the 97th floor of the north tower above the parking garage where the explosion took place. The evidence introduced by the plaintiff showed that the plaintiff was parking her car on the garage’s B-2 level when the truck bomb on the B-1 level collapsed six floors of the parking facility. Islamic terrorists had detonated explosives in a rented Ryder van in the ________-car garage located under the former Twin Towers and Vista Hotel. They had set a 10 minute fuse on a ________ pound dynamite bomb and left the area. The blast injured ________ and killed 6 people.

The plaintiff testified that she had just stepped out of her car in the garage when the blast erupted just after 12:15 p.m. She was struck in the back of the head by debris and knocked to the ground. The plaintiff testified that she then stumbled through the wreckage in the dark and finally called ________ from a pay phone booth in the garage. The plaintiff was eventually discovered in the garage by firefighters hours after the attack covered with fallen debris,.

The plaintiff claimed short-term memory disorder and post- traumatic stress disorder prompted by the attack. The plaintiff also alleged that her lungs were scarred by the debris she inhaled which has left her breathing weak, and that the hearing in her left ear remains impaired, although it has improved in recent years. A toxic dose of antidepressants taken in the early years of her struggle after the bombing incident partly destroyed her liver.

Plaintiff’s counsel alleged that a ________ report commissioned by the Port Authority had warned that the underground garage was vulnerable to a car bombing and recommended that the garages be closed to public parking.

The defense claimed that that there was no evidence the plaintiff suffered any brain injuries in the bombing, pointing to brain scans taken after the incident which showed that the plaintiff did not sustain any head injuries. The defense attributed the plaintiff’s job loss and difficulty functioning to post-traumatic stress disorder, not the claimed brain damage. The defendant further contended that the plaintiff could have found alternative employment after she was terminated from Deloitte & Touche in ________ for being unable to perform her job.

This case was tried on the issue of damages following an appeals court ruling in ________ which upheld a prior jury’s earlier verdict for the plaintiff on liability. In the earlier liability trial held in ________, the jury found the defendant Port Authority 68% liable and the terrorists 32% liable.

In the subject trial, the jury of comprised of three men and three women deliberated for approximately two hours before returning with a verdict of $________ for past and future pain and suffering and past lost wages, but no award for future lost wages.