In Re World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation

OPINION DISCUSSING METHODOLOGY FOR DISCOVERY AND TRIALS OF SAMPLE CASES

ALVIN K. HELLERSTEIN, District Judge.

In the months following September 11, 2001, thousands of workers participated in New York City’s effort to clean up the vast destruction caused by terrorists. The airplane crashes and explosions at the World Trade Center left acres of twisted metal and crumbled concrete. Noxious dust blanketed the rubble and hung in the air for weeks, producing an acrid smell throughout downtown Manhattan. Those who helped in the search and rescue oper ations, and in the effort to clear the mountains of…