Families of 10 Alaska Airlines Crash Victims Filed Suit Today
9/14/0 16:31 (New York)
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The largest group of cases yet,
resulting from the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, was filed today in
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco. The
plane crashed on January 31, 2000 on its way to San Francisco from Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico.
The families of 10 victims are suing ALASKA AIRLINES, MCDONNELL DOUGLAS
and new owner, BOEING; PEACOCK AEROSPACE, DERLAN INDUSTRIES and new owner,
TRIG AEROSPACE (aircraft parts manufacturers).
Aviation attorneys Paul Hedlund (former engineer) and Mary Schiavo
(former Inspector General of the Department of Transportation and author of
"Flying Blind, Flying Safe,") head their law firm's unique aviation team
representing the families in this litigation. They are also joined by
attorneys Clark Aristei (former law professor), Bob Guilford (current
commercial-rated jet pilot) and John Greaves (former airline captain).
This group of filed cases represents the firm's clients'collective voice.
These families seek to bring about safety changes not only for Alaska Airlines
but also for all airlines flying MD 80s. These suits ask for unspecified
amounts of compensation for the wrongful deaths of the families' loved ones.
Their suits allege the pilots on this out-of-control flight failed to make
a precautionary landing when the control problems with the horizontal
stabilizer first occurred. The complaints also allege Alaska Airlines was
negligent and failed to properly maintain the stabilizing equipment and
continued to fly a plane they knew, or should have known, was unsafe.
Furthermore, the complaints allege that their misconduct was callous and
despicably indifferent to the rights and safety of their passengers and caused
the ultimate crash of this flight.
Against the aircraft and parts manufacturers, the suits allege they were
negligent in failing to properly and adequately warn against the defective and
unreasonably dangerous conditions of this MD-83 aircraft and its component
parts, including, among others, the jackscrew and gimbal nut in the horizontal
gimbal stabilizer, which malfunctioned during the flight. These manufacturers
also failed to recall or timely recall the products in question or make
appropriate post-marketing efforts to prevent incidents such as this, the suit
alleges.
Statements by aviation attorneys, Paul Hedlund and Mary Schiavo:
"Safety must come first and must be constantly and vigilantly maintained
in all sectors of the aviation industry. The flying public deserves no less
and these lawsuits punctuate our position that there will be zero tolerance
when it comes to compromising aviation safety."
"Hopefully the Courts will allow the families to seek punitive damages in
light of these wilfully flagrant compromises to safety in pursuit of better
profits."
"Safety has become akin to a stack of Swiss cheese. You can have lots of
holes, but when you stack up all the pieces, most of the time the holes don't
line up, so nothing falls through. We hope these lawsuits will eliminate
those holes, so no matter how they stack; nothing ever falls through."
See copy of complaint at www.bhagd.com/media/medialinks.html.
National law firm Baum, Hedlund, Aristei, Guilford & Downey have
represented victims and their families in almost every major airline crash in
the world involving U.S. defendants since 1985. Most recently, in addition to
their Alaska Airlines clients, they represent 10 families from the EgyptAir
crash off Massachusetts and 25 from the American Airlines crash in Little
Rock, Arkansas. For more see list on their web site at
bhagd.com.
Mary Schiavo is an attorney of counsel to Baum, Hedlund. She served as
the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transportation from 1990 to 1996.
Frustrated and stifled by the FAA in aviation safety issues, she decided that
the best way to bring about reform at the agency was to resign and embark upon
a personal crusade to make the FAA more responsive. It was then she wrote the
New York Times bestseller, "Flying Blind, Flying Safe." In a cover story,
Time Magazine credited Schiavo's efforts, "In the wake of her campaign,
Congress changed the FAA's mandate to make safety its primary mission."
"It remains to be seen whether the FAA can be forced to change and air
safety improved," stated Paul Hedlund and Mary Schiavo.
SOURCE Baum, Hedlund, Aristei, Guilford & Downey
-0- 09/14/2000
/CONTACT: Robin McCall of Baum, Hedlund, Aristei, Guilford & Downey,
800-827-0087 or 310-207-3233 (Day), 818-558-5964 (Night), bhagd@bhagd.com/
/Web site: bhagd.com
/Web site: bhagd.com
/Web site: bhagd.com
CO: Baum, Hedlund, Aristei, Guilford & Downey; Alaska Airlines; McDonnell
Douglas; Boeing; Peacock Aerospace; Derlan Industries; Trig Aerospace
ST: California
IN: AIR |
