Masonry Magazine August 2002 Page. 51
In light of September 11 it is likely that liability lawsuits will increase and target a broader universe of defendants, including members of the construction industry. The reasons are several.
First, terrorism is unfortunately predicted to increase. For months, federal law enforcement agencies have issued frequent alerts concerning possible attacks upon domestic facilities. In the words of many senior government officials, terrorism within the United States now is a matter of "when, not if." Given these predictions and the events of only the past decade-the 1993 WTC bombing, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, 1997 Atlanta abortion clinic bombings, and the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon-it is increasingly "foreseeable" that more terrorism will occur.
As such, expectations will heighten that government and the private sector should increase their resources to assess such threats, and take reasonable measures to reduce the resulting damage. Such measures are seemingly futile in the context of preventing catastrophic damage from the collision of aircraft into skyscrapers; yet, subsequent liability lawsuits undoubtedly will examine in extraordinary detail whether reasonable measures could and should have been undertaken to prevent or at least minimize the damage to a site attacked by terrorists.
Second, such liability lawsuits will likely increase due to the difficulty victims face recovering damages from the terrorists. In virtually every major domestic terrorist event, the terrorist either died or was a person of modest wealth. By contrast, those who design, build or own targeted structures will be perceived as possessing adequate insurance or other assets to pay damages. These assets will tend to "refocus" the aim of victim lawsuits toward developing claims that a structure's designer, builder or owner should have done more under the circum-
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The Voice of the Mason Contractor
August 2002
Masonry 49