Massport wants out of 9/11 lawsuit

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NEW YORK, July 7 (UPI) -- The agency operating Boston's Logan International Airport has asked to be dismissed from a lawsuit by a woman whose son died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Mary Bavis of Roslindale, Mass., whose son, Mark, was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 175, says Massport shares responsibility for the security lapse that allowed hijackers to board the plane. Mark Bavis, a hockey scout,, died when the plane hit the World Trade Center.

In a court filing last week, Massport asked for summary judgment, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.

"Massport was not responsible for passenger checkpoint screening on 9/11,'' the agency's lawyers wrote. "Passenger screening is and was no more an airport operator function than flight crew performance and aircraft maintenance.''

Bavis's lawsuit, the only one still open, is scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in November. Massport was dismissed from other lawsuits and has paid no damages in any settlements.

The plaintiff's lawyers say Massport had "overarching responsibility" for security at Logan and should have been aware it was not adequate. Two of the four planes hijacked on Sept. 11 took off from Logan.