Posted by With a firm trial date looming for thousands of lawsuits brought by workers at ground zero against the city, lawyers for both sides are engaged in intensive talks aimed at settling some or all the cases.
The first 12 cases are scheduled for trial on May 16 in Manhattan. But Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who is overseeing the litigation, said at a recent hearing that a detailed settlement plan about 70 pages long had been drafted.
“There have been intensive discussions going on looking to settlements of individual cases and globally of all cases,” he said.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs and the city declined to comment on the negotiations.
“The parties have been working very hard,” said Judge Hellerstein, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. “The settlement is complicated.”
