The events of September 11 and the possibility of further terrorist attacks have raised new questions about civil liability for mass torts. Many of the industries that are most exposed to substantial civil penalties – airlines, insurers, pharmaceutical companies – are also the most exposed to terror and the most critical to an effective response. Some observers view September 11 as an urgent call to reform a tort system that was, in more peaceful times, a bearable (albeit expensive) cost of doing business. Others view current attempts to limit liability as merely another effort to shelter politically favored industries from the ordinary operations of the tort system.

This conference on "Torts and Terror" will provide a public forum to discuss mass torts in the wake of September 11. The first panel will discuss now-and-future liability problems and proposed legislation in three areas: airlines and airport security, drugs and vaccines, and insurance and reinsurance for terror-related events. The second panel will discuss the extent to which terrorism and the war against it will, or should, prompt a change in the public and political debate over tort reform.