Associated Press Writer
Monday, January 4, 1999; 10:44 a.m. EST ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York's highest court will hear arguments this week into whether the operator of the World Trade Center must turn over documents to victims of the 1993 bombing about the complex's vulnerability to such attacks.
Lawyers for victims of the attack, which killed six people and injured 1,000, are suing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the center. They contend that the agency had been warned as early as 1985 about the complex's susceptibility to a bomb attack in its underground parking garages.
Victor Kovner, a lawyer for a coalition of bombing victims, will argue before the Court of Appeals on Tuesday that the 62 documents are ``pivotal'' to proving that the Port Authority is liable for damages because of its alleged negligence at responding to security concerns.
The Port Authority has argued unsuccessfully before two lower courts that the documents the victims are seeking are confidential communications, exempt because disclosure could harm the public interest.
Port Authority lawyer Milton Pachter plans to argue that releasing the documents ``would create a serious danger to the members of the public'' because terrorists could glean information to aid a future attack.
Kovner counters that the Port Authority is seeking a ``radical and unwarranted expansion of the bounds of privilege.''
Included in group bringing the suit are relatives of those killed, people who were injured and companies which say they lost millions by being displaced from the building in the weeks following the blast.
Four militant Muslims said they plotted the bombing to protest the United States' foreign policy in the Middle East. They were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
The victims say the most damning documents held by the Port Authority are consultants' analyses of an in-house security study conducted in 1985. That report said the center's underground garages posed a security problem and recommended measures such as random inspection of vehicles for explosives. The bombers left the explosives in a rental van parked in one of the lots.
Lower courts have ruled that the documents must largely be released, except for some sensitive information about police informants.
The Court of Appeals is expected to rule on the case within a few months.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
