Lawsuit Facts

• The four individual plaintiffs – Jane Everhart, Dennis Horvitz, Kenneth Bronstein, and Mark Panzarino – are US citizens and residents of New York City as well as members in good standing of American Atheists, Inc.

• The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), along with the City of New York, own the land on which the 9/11 Memorial and Museum has been built.  PANYNJ has also played a material part in the development and construction of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
• The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), funded with $10 billion in federal funds to rebuild downtown Manhattan after the 9/11 tragedy, provided the funding for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
• The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation (WTCMF) is a 501(c)(3) non-religious non-profit organization responsible for developing and constructing the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
• The WTCMF received $79,252,830 in unrestricted government funding for its purposes in 2009; and $69,452,552 in unrestricted government funding in 2010. These amounts constituted approximately 59% of the total funding the WTCMF received for the construction of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
• In August 2010, Congress instructed the US Mint to strike 9/11 Commemorative medals to raise public funds for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.  Proceeds from the sale of those medals were directed to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
• It is estimated that the 9/11 Memorial and Museum will attract over 5 million visitors, of all faiths and none, to the site. It is AA’s contention that part of the message they will get at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum is that only Christians were affected by this tragedy and render all of the non-Christian victims as “illegitimate others” undeserving of recognition.
• This lawsuit has been pursued in large measure because the memorial and other governmental authorities did not respond to any of the repeated requests for dialogue with our community over our expressed concerns.