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.
France has no torts law.
France has no torts law.
Lawyers or (liers) give me a bad taste, sleezy, money grabbers all.
Nothing too unusual there until I asked her where he was from and she said TEXAS. They flew into SF and drove over to see her yesterday. I am still in shock...
We should deduct every dollar NOAA spends on this idiocy from the tsunami relief fund and announce this to the world and ask the attorney firm that is sponsoring this crap to match it.
This would be funny if it weren't so sad. Ok, how about "INSANE"? A natural disaster is grounds for a LAWSUIT? I am continually amazed.
either the USA is RESPONSIBLE for the WHOLE world or it ISN'T... i wish they'd make up their minds!!!
f'ing european slobs...i live in thailand and they all trash us americans all the time...they choose to come here to play for holiday...but want to sue in a us court...take to the faciest EU...they are all running here and everywhere else leaving their homelands fearful of the islam millions they have in their countries but still want the depressed dollar in addition to their own overly priced uros...what slobs!
Maybe next time they will buried in an avalanche skiing in the alps.
Shakespeare had it right about Lawyers, that's for sure.
Act of God in an earthquake/volcanic/tectonically active area?
Maybe, but it's the United States fault because they deliberately didn't share their voodoo technology with the rest of the world, because they're trying to kill of all the poor third world peope, and oh, yes, white Europeans from socialist countries, and before I forget, terrorist sympathizers in Aceh.
So, ergo, if it's America's fault, it's Bush's fault yet again!
This is great...Two Degrees of Separation from George W. Bush, the hot new game lefties and their ilk just love to play.
Stay Safe my Friend... FReegards
This lawyer scum gives the term "AMBULANCE CHASER" a whole new meaning, on a much larger scale. What a disgrace.
We had to know that sooner or later, someone would end up suing us over this. It must have taken this long for the lawyers to sort out who was going to go for what.
no, I didn't, thanks gave me a good laugh.
"At least the attorney has a name that suits him."
Fagan? That name rings a bell. Some evil guy in an animated movie with dogs? The one in Manhatten?
My favorite and most repeated line: "I'm having a bad day."
Fagin
n : a villainous Jew in a novel by Charles Dickens; "Fagin was a fence who trained boys as pickpockets"
dictionary.reference.com
These idiots are about to experience US law, where there is no expectation of performance by the government.
Hi
I blogged about this on February 16th:
http://eclipsechasing.blogspot.com/2005/02/tsunami-litigation.html
Simply outrageous!
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