MaiLuk Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Well you can't sue mother nature when she acts impulsively. But thats no reason to not file a lawsuit. - ML ------------------ Tsunami Victims to Sue Hotel, Thailand, U.S. Forecasters AFP Feb. 15, 2005 ? A group of Austrian and German victims of the Asian tsunami disaster are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, a French hotel chain and U.S. forecasters prove they reacted adequately to the disaster, their lawyers said Tuesday. The suit, naming the French hotel chain Accor and the U.S.-run tsunami early warning system in the Pacific as well as Thai authorities, will be filed in a New York district court this week, the lawyers said in Vienna. "We found that serious lapses were committed," said Herwig Hasslacher, one of the three lawyers for the group. They said the suit was not, at present, designed to demand compensation but to uncover evidence that would prove negligence. The case was presented as the first of its kind arising out of the Dec. 26 disaster, when a powerful undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra sent huge waves pounding into coastlines around the Indian Ocean. The death toll has reached nearly 290,000, including several thousand Western tourists who were holidaying in Indian Ocean resorts, notably in Thailand and Sri Lanka. The suit will be filed on behalf of 15 Austrian and four German victims of the disaster. The targets are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Washington and its Hawaii-based tsunami warning center; the Accor group of hotels where some of the victims stayed; and the Thai government. NOAA is accused of having registered the earthquake but failed to alert Indian Ocean countries of the impending tsunamis as the Hawaii center covered only the Pacific. The lawyers said that if the NOAA and Thai authorities, which had their own information, had passed on their alerts in time, it would have enabled people on shorelines to flee inland. "We have evidence they did not warn us, even though they knew a quarter of an hour later about the strength and location of the quake, and although there is supposed to be a tsunami warning" from 6.5 on the Richter scale, Hasslacher said. The quake measured 9.0. Accor is named in the lawsuit because the plaintiffs say the chain did not properly inform relatives of the victims after the disaster and had built its Sofitel hotel, in the Thai resort of Khao Lak, on a quake fracture line. U.S. lawyer Ed Fagan told the news conference he would ask the U.S. court this week, probably Thursday or Friday, to ensure the preservation of key documents needed for the case, such as satellite imagery and contacts between NOAA, Thailand and Indonesia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 this has more to do with the US liablilty jurisdiction, where some people (and Ed Fagan is one of the frontrunner) try to make money out of all natural and human desasters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaiLuk Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 A personal injury lawyer never saw a human who was not at fault for something. >>NOAA is accused of having registered the earthquake but failed to alert Indian Ocean countries of the impending tsunamis as the Hawaii center covered only the Pacific.<< :: How would they possibly warn indian ocean countries? I can just see a guy from HOAA on the phone who has no idea whether the earthquake generated a tsunami: "Can i speak to your prime minister please?" "What for?" "He needs to call all beach front hotels and convince them to evacuate cause there was an earthquake 15,000 miles away and there might be a wave." "I'll give him the message." >>The lawyers said that if the NOAA and Thai authorities, which had their own information, had passed on their alerts in time, it would have enabled people on shorelines to flee inland. << Yeah. That is a realistic scenario. Its all their fault. Any wonder why litigation reform is coming in the US? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaiLuk Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 The earthquake was hardly 15,000 miles away maybe i should look at a map before i post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jxxxl Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Could it be that Mighty Mouse is the personal injury lawyer? As I understand it, NOAA did make an effort to contact the Thai meterological department in an effort to warn them - not that there was any responsibility to do so. I think NOAA should give the one-finger salute to this team of lawyers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 They should file the lawsuit in California. They'd stand a great chance of winning it here. Maybe the U.S. should just withdraw its involvement in any international disaster warning systems if lawsuits are going to be result of trying to do some good. :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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