Immune To Lawsuits

Whitman Not Liable for 9/11 Statements, Court Rules


A federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled Tuesday that Christie Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, cannot be held personally liable for her statements about the air quality in Lower Manhattan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that Mrs. Whitman had not intended to injure anyone when she reassured residents that the air in the area was safe...

The Justice Department, which represented her, argued that because Mrs. Whitman was acting as E.P.A. administrator, she was immune to lawsuits concerning her official role. In most cases, federal officials are immune from such legal action, but Judge Batts ruled that the lawsuit against Mrs. Whitman could proceed.

In Tuesday’s ruling, the Circuit Court overruled Judge Batts’s decision, finding that Mrs. Whitman’s conduct did not justify the legal action. Citing its earlier decision in a lawsuit brought against the E.P.A. by emergency responders, the court found that in order to proceed, the plaintiffs needed to establish an intent by public officials to cause harm to people. The court found that “a poor choice made by an executive official” was not sufficient to justify a legal claim merely because it “resulted in grave consequences that a correct decision could have avoided.”
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