Judge to hear 9/11 lawsuits

NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Families of 42 U.S. victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, airline crashes may soon learn what their loved ones lives were worth, at least financially, it was reported.

The families are suing airlines, security companies and other parties in a trial to begin Sept. 24 in U.S. District Court in New York.

The families refused government compensation for their loved ones' deaths in the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking of four planes that crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Lawyers for the defendants, United and American Airlines and other parties, call the lawsuits misguided and say they aren't to blame for the terrorist attacks.

Most of the families are represented by Motley Rice, a South Carolina law firm known for its tobacco, lead paint and asbestos litigation.

The families rejected settlements from the congressionally created Victim Compensation Fund, which paid $6 billion to survivors of 2,880 of those killed in the attacks, representing 97 percent of the families of the dead, the Times said.