Lawyers spar over cash in cable-car disaster

Nearly seven years after 155 skiers and snowboarders died in a cable-car fire in Austria's Alps, cash compensation soon could be paid out to victims' families, officials said Thursday. But at least one lawyer denounced the offer as a pittance.

VIENNA, Austria — Nearly seven years after 155 skiers and snowboarders died in a cable-car fire in Austria's Alps, cash compensation soon could be paid out to victims' families, officials said Thursday. But at least one lawyer denounced the offer as a pittance.
    The Austrian government and several companies implicated in the nation's worst peacetime disaster have proposed paying out €13 million ($18.5 million U.S.) starting next spring in a voluntary gesture to ease the families' ''psychological suffering.''
    It remained unclear whether the payments would settle several lawsuits filed in the U.S. and Austria on behalf of the victims, who had held out for much higher compensation.
    Herwig Hasslacher, a lawyer representing some of the families, called the offer woefully insufficient. ''The sum mentioned is completely unacceptable and far from the demands the survivors are entitled to,'' he said in a statement.
    The 155 were killed on Nov. 11, 2000, when fire blamed on a faulty space heater swept through a crowded cable car as it passed through a mountain tunnel on its way to the summit of Austria's popular Kitzsteinhorn glacier near the ski resort town of Kaprun.
    Only 12 people escaped. Most of the victims were from Austria and Germany. Eight were Americans, and the others were from Japan, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Britain.
    Thomas Frad, a lawyer for Gletscherbahn Kaprun AG — the company that ran the funicular railway service — said the company would consider all claims to be settled.
    ''With the payments, practically all the obligations from the accident are settled and the case is really closed,'' he said.
    But Frad said there was still the possibility that U.S. lawyer Ed Fagan and Austrian attorneys fighting for higher compensation could scuttle the deal.
    ''I fear that Mr. Fagan and individual Austrian lawyers could torpedo a solution,'' he said.
    Justice Minister Maria Berger confirmed Thursday that the offer was on the table, but told the Austria Press Agency an agreement has not yet been reached with the families.
    Berger characterized it as ''an offer from those who want to help'' and said the families and a special mediation commission would discuss it at a Nov. 6 meeting at her office.
    In 2006, lawyers representing some of the victims' families rejected a settlement offer of €16 million ($22.8 million U.S.), calling it too low.
    In 2005, an Austrian court affirmed the acquittals of eight people accused of responsibility for the deaths. The eight defendants were among 16 people who were acquitted in February 2004 of charges of criminal negligence in the fire.
    But relatives have been stymied in efforts to win financial compensation. In Austria, at least 100 separate lawsuits have been filed seeking damages, but there have not been any pay-outs.
    At least two lawsuits have been filed in U.S. courts, but a federal judge threw out lawyers' attempts to lump the claims together in a class-action lawsuit.

    — The Associated Press