Alaska admits liability in Flight 261 crash
Alaska and Boeing declared their positions in filings submitted yesterday in San Francisco to U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who is overseeing more than a dozen wrongful-death suits that remain in the case.
Neither company will contest negligence and product-liability claims, leaving a jury to decide only whether monetary damages should be paid to families who have yet to settle with the companies. Those damages could include potentially huge payments for the pre-impact pain and suffering of passengers.
Alaska admitted liability under an international treaty covering the flight. An Alaska spokesman declined to comment on the company's filing.
Alaska previously blamed a Boeing-approved grease for the crash, as well as flaws in the plane's design and maintenance plan.
Boeing, which has cited Alaska's failure to maintain the plane, said it was not contesting liability to bring about an "expeditious resolution" of the case.
But Boeing stated it is not admitting responsibility for the deaths of the 88 passengers and crew.
"Boeing's waving a white flag," said Brian Panish, a Los Angeles attorney representing several families.
Panish said the companies wanted to avoid a full airing of the facts surrounding the crash to reduce the damage amounts.
Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said, "What non-contesting means is that we're interested in resolving these proceedings and getting the families the compensation they deserve so they can move on.
"In not contesting, we do not admit liability in these proceedings, period," Verdier said. "We're anxious to close this out for the families."
Alaska and Boeing submitted their positions after Breyer earlier ruled out potentially costly punitive damages against Boeing, which Alaska is not subject to under an international treaty.
Breyer will now have to decide how much jurors will hear about maintenance lapses at Alaska and the history of the plane, an MD-80 series jet built by McDonnell Douglas before its merger with Boeing in 1997.
Jurors are to be picked beginning June 17, with opening statements set for July 7. Testimony, which could take up to two months, will likely include horrific details about the final 20 minutes of Flight 261.
The MD-83 took two steep dives and flew upside down before plunging into the Pacific Ocean off Southern California on Jan. 31, 2000, killing all 83 passengers and five crew members.
Experts will testify about what gravitational forces and injuries the passengers, including several children, experienced before the plane hit the water.
The plane, which was traveling from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle, crashed as the two pilots were attempting to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles.
The National Transportation Safety Board in December concluded the primary cause of the crash was Alaska's failure to properly lubricate the jackscrew assembly, which controls the horizontal stabilizer on the jet's tail. Threads on the jackscrew's nut sheared off, causing the pilots to lose control of the plane.
The board rejected Alaska's contention that the Boeing-approved grease corroded the jackscrew assembly.
The board also found that lack of a fail-safe system in the plane contributed to the crash. But the board stopped short of recommending a redesign of the jackscrew, although it asked the Federal Aviation Administration to study the plane's design.
Of 88 original wrongful-death suits, 16½ remain (the half represents some members of a victim's family). The other cases have been settled, virtually all for undisclosed sums.
Marc Topel, a San Francisco attorney representing the family of Stanford Poll, a victim from Mercer Island, said yesterday that Boeing had made a "business decision" by not contesting liability.
"If they really thought they did nothing wrong, they wouldn't be doing this," Topel said.
Alaska has agreed to pay whatever compensatory damages the jury awards, then determine whether to seek compensation from Boeing. Alaska remains the subject of a separate federal criminal investigation into the crash.
Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com