Aegis Insurance Services, Inc. v. 7 World Trade Center Co., L.P.

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York · Torts

TortsNegligenceDutyForeseeabilityNegligence per seSummary judgmentdutyforeseeability

Facts

Con Edison leased and operated a substation beneath the site where 7 World Trade Center was later built by 7WTCo.; Citigroup's predecessor leased major portions of the building and installed a diesel-fueled backup generator system. After terrorists crashed hijacked airplanes into the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, debris damaged 7 World Trade Center, fires burned inside it for hours, the water main and sprinkler system became inoperable, firefighters were unavailable, and the building collapsed onto the Con Edison substation. Con Edison alleged that negligent design, construction, fireproofing, and diesel generator-related features of the building and tenant improvements caused or contributed to the collapse.

Issue

Whether 7WTCo. and Citigroup owed Con Edison a tort duty broad enough to encompass losses caused by the collapse of 7 World Trade Center after the unprecedented terrorist attacks and resulting chain of events on September 11, 2001. The court also considered whether Con Edison could sustain negligence per se claims without showing violation of a statute.

Rule

Under New York law, duty in negligence is defined by the risk reasonably to be perceived and is limited to harms within the defendant's range of apprehension. Courts must limit liability to controllable bounds and will not extend duty to highly improbable, attenuated, or unprecedented chains of criminal events; failure to comply with codes or industry norms may be evidence of negligence but does not itself create duty, and negligence per se requires violation of a statute.

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In Chicago, Harbor Point Logistics built a 38-story warehouse tower next to a municipal power vault operated by Lakefront Grid Services. Years later, a coordinated cyberattack disabled airport screening nationwide, terrorists hijacked a cargo jet, crashed it into a nearby sports arena, and resulting debris ruptured a water main, ignited fires in the tower, prevented firefighting for hours, and the tower collapsed onto the power vault.

If Lakefront Grid Services sues Harbor Point Logistics for negligent design of the tower, what is the strongest argument for Harbor Point on duty?

Explanation. Under the majority opinion, negligence duty is limited by the risk reasonably to be perceived. Even where a landowner may owe adjoining owners a general duty of reasonable care, that duty does not extend to harms produced by a strange, attenuated, and unprecedented chain of criminal events. The court emphasized controllable limits on liability and refused to extend duty to such extraordinary circumstances. (Derived from Aegis Insurance Services, Inc. v. 7 World Trade Center Co., L.P. (n.d.).)