Tampa attorneys file 9/11 lawsuit

The two represent families of New York firefighters killed in the towers Sept. 11, 2001.

TAMPA - Tampa attorneys Barry Cohen and Richard Salem have filed a lawsuit on behalf of 12 families of New York City firefighters who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York on Monday, claims the city of New York ignored warnings that the hand-held radios issued to firefighters did not work in the World Trade Center.

The flaws prevented firefighters from hearing orders to get out of the north tower before it collapsed, the suit states.

"The city officials knew that the radios did not work in the World Trade Center," Cohen said Tuesday. "These families want to get to the truth of what happened to their loved ones."

Officials with the city of New York could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the New York Fire Department declined comment to the New York Times.

According to the lawsuit, an assistant fire chief issued an order to all firefighters in the north tower to evacuate at about 9:32 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. The vast majority of the firefighters in the tower at that time did not receive the message over their hand-held radios, a system manufactured by Motorola, the suit states.

After the south tower collapsed about 9:59 a.m., a battalion chief issued an emergency order for all firefighters to get out of the north tower, the suit states. But that message also went unheard by many of the firefighters.

A few minutes later, a police helicopter pilot reported over the radio system that the north tower was glowing red about 15 floors from the top and that collapse was imminent. That warning was not conveyed to the firefighters in the north tower, the suit states.

At 10:29 a.m., the north tower collapsed, killing dozens of firefighters, including all those named in the lawsuit.

The suit claims that city officials knew for many years that the radio system did not work properly in large skyscrapers. Firefighters on the upper floors of the towers could not communicate with their commanders during the rescue efforts after the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the suit states.

The radio system used in 1993 was essentially the same system used on Sept. 11, 2001, according to the suit.

Cohen's law firm has videotape images of firefighters trying unsuccessfully to use their radios in the north tower on Sept. 11, 2001.

"They couldn't communicate. The city should have known that, but they didn't do anything about it," Cohen said.

Catherine "Sally" Regenhard, the mother of slain firefighter Christian Regenhard, said Tuesday that the firefighters' families have known for years that the radios were an "abysmal failure" in skyscrapers. But the city did not remedy the problems, she said.

Christian Regenhard, 28, was a probationary firefighter with Engine 279 in Brooklyn. He had recently been honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, where he rose to the rank of sergeant.

"My son was a very disciplined person," Catherine Regenhard said. "If he had heard an order to evacuate, he would have evacuated."

Regenhard said she contacted dozens of lawyers in the New York City area, none of whom wanted to take the case. She said the issue is "very political" within the city.

"We will do what we have to do," Cohen said.

"As an outside firm, we will not be influenced by the political scene."

- Graham Brink can be reached at 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com

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