Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Smart Success Strategy – Investing and Stock NewsSmart Success Strategy – Investing and Stock News

Stock

Boeing, Alaska Airlines point fingers at each other in lawsuit over door plug blowout

Boeing and Alaska Airlines have separately denied any legal responsibility for the injuries allegedly caused to dozens of passengers after a door-plug blew out of a 737-Max 9 jet during a flight in January.

In its formal answers this week to a class-action lawsuit brought by about 40 passengers of Alaska Flight 1282, Boeing generally acknowledged the preliminary findings of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation that determined the door plug was improperly installed. The company also agreed that, in an interview with CNBC, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun publicly described the incident as “our mistake.”

But Boeing denied liability for any damages alleged by the passengers, saying their lawsuit should be dismissed. The company also contended it cannot be held responsible for any injuries that may have resulted because its products were “improperly maintained, or misused by persons and/or entities other than Boeing.”

Likewise, Alaska denied liability, claiming any injuries stemming from the door plug blowout “were caused by the fault of persons or entities over whom Alaska Airlines has no control … including Defendant The Boeing Company and/or non-party Spirit AeroSystems.”

Alaska also denied that the activation of the plane’s cabin-pressure warning light three previous times within a month of the door-plug blowout — including on the day before the incident —  was related  or meant that the plane was unsafe to fly.    

The legal filings, submitted as part of the case in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, represent the first formal response from each company to any of at least three lawsuits filed in the wake of the Jan. 5 incident.

Daniel Laurence, an attorney representing passengers who are part of the class action, said Wednesday he was “frankly surprised” that Boeing and Alaska “don’t want to simply admit liability and put this case behind them.” 

“They’re putting up a wall and circling the wagons,” added Laurence, with the Strimatter Kessler Koehler Moore law firm in Seattle. “That’s disappointing, given what I think most of the population believes and the evidence appears to clearly support — that they put this aircraft into the air with an unsecured door plug that, had it come out a few minutes later, would have killed everybody on board.”

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Jan. 25.Aaron Schwartz / NurPhoto via Getty Images file

The incident occurred shortly after the Boeing-manufactured jet, carrying 171 passengers and six flight crew members, took off from Portland International Airport bound for Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County. After reaching an altitude of about 16,000 feet, the door plug blew out, leaving a large hole in the plane’s fuselage and forcing the plane to turn back to Portland, where it landed safely.

Following the incident, which has brought new scrutiny to Boeing and its troubled 737 Max airplanes, the FAA temporarily grounded some models of the plane. The NTSB investigation preliminarily found no bolts had been installed to secure the plug.

The FAA separately launched an audit into Boeing and its supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, finding “multiple instances where the companies allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.” The Department of Justice has also separately opened a criminal probe into the door plug blowout, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

In the wake of the incident, at least three separate lawsuits have been filed by Flight 1282 passengers and their spouses, including cases in state courts in Washington and Oregon. 

Passengers involved in the federal lawsuit, seeking class-action status, claim they were physically injured and traumatized by the door plug’s blow out, which caused rapid depressurization of the plane’s cabin and led to widespread panic.

“The pressure change made ears bleed and combined with low oxygen, loud wind noise and traumatic stress made heads ache severely,” the lawsuit states. “Passengers were shocked, terrorized and confused, thrust into a waking nightmare, hoping they would live long enough to walk the earth again.”

Since the incident, some passengers have avoided flying on any airplane, and some have sought counseling to deal with emotional trauma, Laurence said.

The lawsuit also alleges that several passengers had trouble breathing in the aftermath of the door plug blowout because oxygen masks that dropped during the incident weren’t functioning.

Alaska denied that any oxygen masks did not work in its filing this week.

The airline acknowledged that the jet’s auto cabin pressure controller light activated three times before the door plug blowout, leading Alaska to restrict the plane from flying on long routes over water. But Alaska disputed that the light warnings “made the aircraft unsafe to fly (and) denies any correlation between the pressurization controller warning light activations and the door plug accident on Flight 1282,” its filing says.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
Enter Your Information Below To Receive Latest News, And Articles.



    Your information is secure and your privacy is protected. By opting in you agree to receive emails from us. Remember that you can opt-out any time, we hate spam too!

    You May Also Like

    Editor's Pick

    The energy revolution is here to stay, and electric vehicles (EVs) have become part of the mainstream narrative. Despite geopolitical tensions and uncertainty, the...

    Editor's Pick

    Overview Mexico’s Sinaloa state hosts a number of prolific silver and gold mines, including McEwen Mining’s (TSX:MUX) El Gallo Complex, Americas Gold and Silver’s...

    Editor's Pick

    Uranium is an important energy sector commodity, and its rising value has attracted investor interest. 2023 has seen uranium prices solidly above the important...

    Investing

    A new survey shows that the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and President Biden is thin, but Biden faces a deficit in...

    Disclaimer: smartsuccessstrategy.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.


    Copyright © 2024 smartsuccessstrategy.com