Legal action over San Francisco plane crash targets Boeing
Jul 16, 2013, 1:51 PM | Updated: Jul 17, 2013, 9:46 am
Boeing is the target of legal action over the San Francisco runway crash that killed three people.
A Chicago law firm that specializes in transportation safety confirms that it is beginning legal action on behalf of 83 passengers of Asiana flight 214, according to a statement.
In court filings in Chicago, where Boeing has headquarters, attorneys for Ribbeck Law Chartered say there are indications there may have been a malfunction of the auto-throttle, contributing to the July 6 crash landing of the Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport.
The crash also injured more than 180 people.
Richard Aboulafia, Vice President of Analysis at Teal Group, tells KIRO Radio, “the 777 has a stellar safety record. The idea that a week or so after the crash a bunch of attorneys could have found something fundamentally wrong, take legal action against Boeing, and have success with that, is a little difficult to believe.”
He says there are two scenarios; either the attorneys have an extremely elite investigative service, better than the NTSB, or the attorneys are “prematurely grandstanding.”
The LA Times reports the legal action will also focus on evacuation slides that might have inflated inward and seat belts that might have trapped passengers, delaying their exit from the burning aircraft.
The attorneys say legal action will be filed soon against Asiana and manufacturers of the airplane components.
The National Transportation Safety Board continues its inquiry into the crash and a report is due out in 12 to 18 months.
