Posted on 03/05/2005 6:18:51 PM PST by kennedy
SEVERAL dozen European victims of Asia's tsunami disaster have filed a lawsuit demanding that Thai authorities, US forecasters, and a French hotel chain prove that they reacted adequately.
In what is believed to be the first tsunami claim worldwide, US lawyer Edward Fagan and two other lawyers have filed the suit with a New York district court on behalf of more than 60 plaintiffs from Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The suit was filed against the Thai government, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its Tsunami Warning Centre, and the French hotel group Sofitel, said Herwig Hasslacher, one of the group's lawyers.
The plaintiffs accuse Thai authorities of not releasing information about the impending sea surge as soon as they received it, arguing that a more prompt alert would have saved thousands of lives.
They also accuse the NOAA, whose Hawaii-based tsunami warning centre covers only the Pacific, of not informing Indian Ocean states of the tsunami even though they had registered the seaquake.
The French hotel chain Sofitel, part of the group Accor, is accused of knowingly building the Sofitel Khao Lak Beach in the Thai resort of Phuket on a fault line, along with failing to inform parents of the victims and failing to repatriate some of the victims' bodies.
The lawyers said the suit was not, at present, designed to demand compensation but to uncover evidence that would prove negligence.
Mr Fagan asked the US court to ensure the preservation of key documents needed for the case, such as satellite imagery and contacts between the NOAA, Thailand and Indonesia, Mr Hasslacher said.
The court was expected to set a date for a hearing within the next 30 days in which tsunami survivors could be heard, he added.
The number of people believed to have perished in the December 26 tsunami stood at 273,435 today, more than two months after the disaster.
Mr Fagan successfully fought a class action suit against Swiss banks by Holocaust victims.
let those ba**ards sue their own countries......the US funds our own research and NOAA.......we have no legal right to warn others.......we do it cause we damned well care, unlike most other jackass nations that can't predict a fart no less a tsunami.......
Perhaps the U.S based attorneys should get get a non-expense paid tour to "Phuket" by the Thai government and U.S. Courts.
Why is this in a US Court?
The American court system is the only one in the world so fully developed yet so indiscriminate and unprincipled that it wouldn't blow lunch all over these bastard lawyers and throw their useless a&&es out the front door.
"Because the courts in most countries would throw it out."
And rightly so. Hopefully we will do the same.
"Why is this in a US Court?"
It's not, it's in a NY Court. /sarc off
This is insane, and it's probably the tip of the iceberg that will soon follow.
Astroid hits earth, lawsuits to follow.
Go cry to the UN ..
Get with the program, will ya? Karl Rove caused the tsunami with his trademark Perfect Rovian Storm. Bush is just his chimp lackey and is either too stupid for words or an evil genius (they can't decide which. < /DU rant>
Only a Lawyer would think tsunami is spelled tSUEnami.
I'm sure they did, and I'm not faulting you for posting it tonight. I haven't heard anything about this story since it was posted here some time ago. And the story probably isn't identical--written by the same reporter.
If this wasn't so pathetic it would be funny. My kids laugh and threaten to become lawyers when they want to get a rise out of me......
Somehow or another, Fagan will probably get paid for his time by the USA taxpayer. Just watch!
Has anyone noticed what Fagan is without the an?
....guess we didn't give them enough money???????????????
Since when is the US government obligated to be omniscient, all-powerful, and to give a damn about anyone but US citizens?
Why are they not suing their own governments for not having the sensor networks to detect these things on their own? Using their "reasoning", would that not be gross negligence on the part of the European governments? Feh!
The only meaningful tort reform will be when attorneys have to pay the DEFENDANTS when they file frivolous lawsuits. Until the attorneys have personal and professional consequences for being party to this crap, it will never stop.
Ditto
There wasn't a person with a B.S. in geology or oceanography within 1000 miles that didn't know that a 9.2 earthquake in Indonesia would likely cause a big tsunami.
stupid. like dude, other people are responsible for u?
accor owns motel 6 + red roof inn, etc.
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