Saw a troubling story on the web today. Seems a judge has ok'd a set of lawsuits to go forward regarding the 9/11 attacks. The lawsuits allege that the airlines and the NY/NJ Port Authority were negligent in not preventing the attacks. (see Story: Judge Allows 9/11 Suits Against Airlines

As far as I can make out, the basis of the claim is that the airlines and the Port Authority should have been able to foresee and prevent an attack by 20 hijackers on different airlines from different airports with unknown targets. Somehow, they should have been able to stop a plane from flying into the WTC.

I understand grief, and the desire for restitution of some kind, but this is not the way to go. The airlines have already been hit hard, now the lawsuits threaten to damage them further. The Port Authority lost good men and women trying to save lives, and they're going to be sued for not being clairvoyant.

To me, this smacks heavily of lawyers. But even so, it just doesn't make sense. They want money for some type of compensation? The average payout from the 911 federal victims compensation fund is $1.5 million. So if they're suing for more, it's because they think they'll get it.

I'm all for folks getting help because of the loss of a loved one. But it hurts me to see that someone thinks they should punish the airlines and the Port Authority for this tragedy.