Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 24, 1995 TAG: 9501250041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
``It's a relief,'' said Susan Cohen of Cape May, N.J., whose 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, died aboard Pan Am 103. ``We have at least established their responsibility'' for lax security in handling airline baggage. ``Nothing takes the pain away,'' she said. ``It's not a matter of money. It's a matter of proving that somebody messed up.''
The court made no comment in turning down the airline's argument that the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence that Pan Am officials thought they were complying with rules for inspecting airline baggage.
A bomb exploded aboard Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie. The United States and Scotland have issued arrest warrants for two Libyan suspects, but Libya so far has refused to turn them over for trial.
The families of more than 200 victims filed wrongful-death lawsuits against Pan Am and its security firm, Alert Management Systems. Three of the cases were tried before a New York federal judge in 1992.
The jury found willful misconduct by Pan Am after hearing evidence that the airline had ignored warnings that its baggage-security system was inadequate.
The verdict was binding on the other cases, and the plaintiffs in those cases now are free to seek damages from Pan Am.
In the appeal denied Monday, Pan Am's lawyers said, ``No one except the terrorists actually knows how the bomb was planted on Flight 103.''
An international treaty limits airlines' liability for crashes on international flights to $75,000 per person unless willful misconduct by the airline caused the disaster.
Pan Am's lawyers contended the airline did not commit willful misconduct because its officials thought the government had approved the baggage-search procedure.
Pan Am shut down in December 1991 and has been selling assets to raise money to pay its creditors.
In other action Monday, the justices:
Agreed to decide, in a Florida case, whether federal courts can oversee negotiations between Indian tribes and state officials about starting gambling operations on Indian reservations.
Reinstated a California priest's child-molesting conviction, thrown out by lower federal courts that had found his state-court trial unfair. The justices ruled that Robert E. Henry had forfeited his right to any federal court help on his denial-of-due-process claims.
Made it easier, by a 5-4 ruling in a Missouri case, for death row inmates and other state prisoners to get federal court hearings on their claims that newly discovered evidence proves they're innocent.
Agreed to use the case of an Alabama man who won a $2 million award because of undisclosed repairs to his new car to consider imposing constitutional limits on such awards.
by CNB