Four Families Get $10 Million In Continental Crash In Denver
HOUSTON - The families of four people killed in the 1987 crash of a Continental Airlines jet in Denver will share $10 million in an out-of-court settlement, an attorney says.
Attorney Michael Sydow said Thursday the case against the airline was settled a few hours before it was scheduled to go to court last Monday.
But Continental spokesman Ned Walker said yesterday that the settlement reached this week involved the family of one victim, and that settlements were reached in the three other cases about eight months ago.
Walker declined to give the amount of the settlement, which he noted will be paid by Continental's insurance company - United States Aviation Insurance Group of New York - not the carrier.
Twenty-eight people died and 54 were injured when the Continental DC-9 crashed on takeoff in a snowstorm at Stapleton International Airport on Nov. 15, 1987.
The National Transportation Safety Board ruled the crash was caused by a combination of weather factors and pilot errors.
The NTSB noted that first officer Lee Bruecher, 26, who was at the controls and killed in the crash, had little flight time on DC-9s. Investigators also found that 27 minutes passed between the time the jet was de-iced and when it took off.
In the settlement, $4.5 million will go to Mary Cook of Boise, Idaho, and her daughter, Kay Gosse, Sydow said. Cook's husband, Richard, died in the crash, Sydow said.
Helen Hideshima of Denver will receive $2.5 million for the death of her husband, Mako Hideshima; Byron Owens of Nyssa, Ore., will get $750,000 for the death of his wife, Terry; and David Daniel of Nampa, Idaho, $2.2 million for the loss of his wife, Tamara, the attorney said. Daniel was seated next to his wife in the plane.
Walker said the settlement reached this week involved the Owens case.
Sydow still has two cases of families of crash victims pending against Continental.
The Houston-based carrier already has paid more than $20 million to settle 36 other crash-related cases.