Lawyers, again.

[jinx]

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.S. and Austrian lawyers have filed a lawsuit demanding Thailand, U.S. forecasters and the French Accor group answer accusations they failed in a duty to warn populations hit by December's Tsunami disaster, a lawyer said Monday. <br /><br /><br />The lawsuit was filed Friday at a New York district court on behalf of tsunami victims by lawyers including U.S. attorney Edward Fagan, internationally renowned for 1990s lawsuits against Swiss banks over Holocaust-era accounts. It demanded an account of their actions on Dec. 26. <br /><br /><br />"We expect a hearing within 30 days," Austrian lawyer Gerhard Podovsovnik told Reuters. <br /><br /><br />"We don't earn any money on the lawsuit. We want to help people," he said. "We are suing to get information." <br /><br /><br />The disaster left about 300,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Maldives, Bangladesh and East Africa. Hundreds of thousands lost their homes. <br /><br /><br />The text of the lawsuit is available on the Web site www.tsunamivictimsgroup.com. <br /><br /><br />The U.S. and Austrian lawyers filed the lawsuit on behalf of around 60 named plaintiffs from Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands and elsewhere. Podovsovnik said they were also acting on behalf of at least 40 more not named. <br /><br /><br />The lawsuit suggests the Thai government and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operates a Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, failed to issue the requisite warnings. <br /><br /><br />SLOW WARNINGS <br /><br /><br />"Respondent NOAA did not notify all involved countries which lay in the tsunami's path. From public information it appears that ... NOAA failed to issue an alert that would notify countries where the tsunami hit that the deadly wave was coming," the lawsuit said. <br /><br /><br />"Published reports emerged that upon receipt of the NOAA alert and other data, the seismological and oceanographic experts of Thailand spent more than one hour talking about what the risk may or may not have been, instead of immediately issuing a warning to their population," it said. <br /><br /><br />It also accused Thailand of failing to notify Sri Lanka that a tsunami wave was headed its way. <br /><br /><br />Among the charges leveled against Accor, the owner of the Sofitel hotel chain, was failure to equip its luxury resort and spa in Khao Lak, Thailand with state-of-the-art seismic detection and warning systems, despite its location "in an earthquake and tsunami fault zone." <br /><br /><br />Last month, Accor issued a statement denying media reports of possible negligence in connection with the tsunami disaster. "The allegations concerning Accor are completely unfounded," Accor said on its Web Site.

 

[NYMINUTE]

Re: Lawyers, again.

Can I sue them too. Just figured it was my turn to get some cash and make me feel better.

 

[Laddies]

Re: Lawyers, again.

There is only one profession in the world today, that the bigger A--hole you are the more money you can charge, A LAWYER

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Lawyers, again.

I guess you can't sue God.

 

[KaGee]

Re: Lawyers, again.

We can now officially refer to it as a sue-nami.

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Lawyers, again.

I guess all hotels should be equiped with ....<br /><br />How stupid is that?<br /><br />Cant there be a natural disaster and it was no ones fault?<br /><br />Ken

 

[ehenry]

Re: Lawyers, again.

It never ceases to amaze me that how brazen attorneys can be. This really shows how greedy that most are. Its a shame that what use to be an honorable proffesion has sunken to such depths.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Lawyers, again.

amazing but it was filled in the US time to check out your legal system was it the only place it could have been done well maybe!!!

 

[MudIsFun]

Re: Lawyers, again.

I fail to understand how and or why a US District court would have any reason to hear such a case, nor how a foreign goverment could be compelled to accept any judgement.<br /><br />I also fail to understand how it is NOAA's responsibility to make sure EVERYONE in the world is aware of what is going on? I guess US tax payers should cover the entire cost of this disaster and pay out for negligence of a US Govt agency which should have been looking out for the entire world.<br /><br />I am sorry for the loss of life and property, but no matter how you slice this we had nothing to do with this disaster. We immediately responded with the Navy to assist and provide aid as soon as we could as well as many other private and goverment agencies. That should be enough.

 

[jimchere]

Re: Lawyers, again.

My argument for joining the international "court" which I don't like, but maybe not a bad idea:<br />-Sue the French government for negligence in allowing the Nazi threat to propagate while taking inadequate means (Maginot Line) to stop it, requiring trillions of dollars (gear) and tens-thousands of American lives....they owe us compensation. They also furthered the holocaust, therefore France should owe hundreds of billions to Israel on top of trillions to the U.S. people.<br />-Same lawsuit to Italy, being an enabler of Nazism through the peoples' selection of Mussolini. Similar costs worthy of recoupment for liberation.<br />-Japan owes hundreds of billions...but deserve some credit for "getting it right" and being a dependable ally since.<br />-Sue Mexico for damage caused by its dissatisfied citizens and inability (neglect) to reign in its own criminals who flee here by the thousands per year (look at stats of CA jail population).<br />I could go on....maybe I will later...with real juicy stuff.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Lawyers, again.

You know when I was growing up I wanted to become an attorney. Then I realized I was to honest for the position. Now I know I will never be in politics.<br /><br />Too many sue happy people on this earth. Geeesh, It was a natural disaster. Besides who would you call to tell "Hay man theres a big wave coming your way!" Yep actually a warning probably would have killed more for the "I wanna see it" attitude.

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: Lawyers, again.

I've read the court document.<br /><br />I disagree with the views so far.<br /><br />The court proceedings are primarily seeking the preservation and inspection of records which the plaintiffs believe are being destroyed or hidden to frustrate future legal action.<br /><br />Maybe they do have a good claim. <br /><br />The tsunami took about 2 hours to reach Thailand. The claim alleges that Thai authorities received notice of the advancing tsunami but spent an hour debating whether to issue warnings for fear of the effect it would have on tourism. If that is true, a lot of deaths and injuries could have been avoided if the authorities' paramount concern had been public safety rather than tourism income. I can't see what's wrong with pursuing a claim where such callous inaction resulted in untold deaths and injuries. <br /><br />If it wasn't for claims like this we'd still be smoking cigarettes that the tobacco industry assured us couldn't cause disease; driving death traps like the Pinto; and inhaling asbestos which, despite its knowledge to the contrary for 60 years, the asbestos industry assured us was safe. Along with countless other great scams and cover-ups by business and government on the citizenry which only came to light and were corrected by legal actions against the wrongdoers, often by very courageous people who, like the claimants and lawyers in the tsunami case, were derided as grasping charlatans and often subjected to the most appalling vilification and harassment by the governments and businesses they challenged.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Lawyers, again.

I still dont see why the US is being sued. wedid send them a warning. what they do with it after its sent is not our concern. its a soverign nation. I like the fact you mentioned the pinto, shows how much you bought into the propaganda. the mustang II used the same unibody and tank and suspension as the pinto but was never targeted, my 442 holds 20 gallons and its under the trunk just fwd of the bumper. if it gets hit hard in the rear there is a good chance it will rupture,gotta put the gas someplace, now the asbestos is another thing. my dad died last august of mesothelioma, from asbestos in the newport news ship yards in his youth. never smoked a single cigarret, never drank and was an arther murray and a fred astaire dance instructor as well as a cruise ship instructor. danced 2 to 4 times a week. I have been diagnoised with asbestosis from doing laundry contaminated with the asbestos from the yards as has my mother.so we may get it just from his work clothes. however our current crop of crooks and cheney is in the topare lettining halliburton renig on payments. so we aint gettin squats. although the lawyers are working on it. if ya dont belive it look up mesothelioma and halliburton on google. seems slippery ****, the former CEO and a major benefactor of halliburtons profits, is rewriting the settlement rules so they can avoid payments. cost almost all my savings and all my dads tolive the last year. including the removal of his right lung. but for the most part I will agree with ya. sometimes it takes the slug eating sharks to insure the rest of us are safe.

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: Lawyers, again.

rodbolt<br /><br />I'm really sorry you have asbestosis.<br /><br />There's been a number of cases here where wives and children of people who worked with asbestos got the disease from dust on dad's clothes, and got compensation.<br /><br />I prefer not to think of the work I did with asbestos years ago. <br /><br />I don't have to look up Halliburton - its reputation is already bad enough but combine it with asbestos and it'll be like James Hardie here. Hardie's set up this fund a few years back that was supposed to meet all future claims arising from its asbestos products. Anybody, apart from government and the press who thought it was great, could see that no way was it going to be enough. Then they transferred all their assets to Holland. De sh!t hit de fan big time last year when people realised what had happened as the fund ran out of money, but they're still trying to wriggle out of it for the minimum cost while making out they're doing people a favour.<br /><br />As for the tsunami court case, I think there are endless difficulties in suing some of the defendants, notably the Kingdom of Thailand, in a US or any other court. I suspect that this is in part a tactical suit to get publicity about the alleged suppression and concealment of records and to influence public opinion. Even if a US court orders Thailand to preserve documents, so what? Thailand isn't subject to US jurisdiction. There's also the probability that it's a scattergun approach to defendants at the moment: they're trying to catch anybody who might have relevant records. There isn't any claim on foot yet against the US or anyone else for damages, and there might never be. This is just a preliminary skirmish to preserve and get information.