The family of a Scottish man killed in the September 11 terror attacks is challenging the US government in court after being refused access to a multi-billion pound compensation fund.

Nearly a quarter of a century on, the brother and mother of
Derek Sword, from Dundee, are taking legal action against the US Department of Justice after their application to the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism fund was denied.

Mr Sword’s brother Graeme told Scotland on Sunday it was fundamentally unfair that his family should be excluded from the scheme on account of the fact neither they nor Derek were US nationals at the time of the attack. Banker Derek, inset, who was 29, was working in the World Trade Centre’s south tower when it was struck by a hijacked plane. His body was never found.

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Instead, that judgment’s significance is rooted in its relevance to the VSST fund, according to Bruce Strong ,from the law firm Anderson Kill, who is representing the Swords in the latest legal action.

He said the denial of access to compensation to the Swords and other families of those who perished, simply because they and their loved ones were not US nationals at the time of the attacks, flies in the face of the fund’s founding principles.

He told Scotland on Sunday: “ Clearly there’s been an injustice here, where 99 percent of the family members of loved ones of people that were killed in the attacks are able to participate in the fund and receive compensation for the worst day of their lives. Meanwhile, this small group of people are locked out completely.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. The VSST legislation can be interpreted in a way to allow these people access, and why wouldn’t you want to give them comfort and some semblance of justice?

We’re going to fight this and hope that the court will reverse the fund’s unjust decision. We think everyone who lost someone that day should be treated equitably.”

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