Families of the victims who died in last month’s deadly UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, filed the first wrongful death lawsuits against the shipper on Wednesday.
Both lawsuits, filed in Kentucky state court, argue UPS and other defendants should have known that the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner “was in disrepair or was otherwise dangerous and unsafe.” After the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded that particular aircraft fleet.
The National Transportation Safety Board recently found cracks in the left wing’s engine mount, according to a preliminary report released by the independent agency on Nov. 20.
The cargo plane in question crashed shortly after takeoff at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Nov. 4, resulting in a massive explosion that killed the three pilots and another 11 people on the ground. At least 23 others were injured. The plane was en route to Honolulu, Hawaii.
The plaintiffs leading the two lawsuits are the families of Angela Anderson, a 45-year-old mother who was a customer at a local business at the time of the explosion, and Trinadette Chavez, a 37-year-old mother employed at one of the businesses destroyed in the crash. Their lawyers vowed to hold the companies tied to the crashed plane accountable.
Each lawsuit accuses UPS, UPS Air Cargo, General Electric, Boeing, and VT San Antonio Aerospace of negligence. GE is the manufacturer of the engine that caught fire, Boeing is the owner of the MD-11 aircraft, and VT SAA is the company responsible for inspections and maintenance.
The 34-year-old cargo plane underwent six weeks of maintenance ending on Oct. 18. However, the engine mount had not undergone a detailed inspection since October 2021. Another detailed inspection would have been due when the plane completed another 7,000 takeoffs and landings.
Aviation attorney Robert Clifford, one of many lawyers representing the victims’ families, said the Nov. 4 incident reminded him of a deadly plane crash nearly 50 years ago.
“When I heard news that an engine had detached from a cargo jet, I immediately thought of the 1979 crash at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport of an American Airlines jet, where a left engine detached shortly after takeoff, killing all 271 on board and two on the ground,” he said in a statement. “I worked on those very sad cases for years, and we got answers for families who deserved justice.”
NTSB FINDS EVIDENCE OF ENGINE MOUNT CRACK IN UPS PLANE THAT CRASHED IN KENTUCKY
Clifford added that the episode illustrates how the defendants put “profit over safety,” ultimately endangering the lives of others.
Wednesday’s litigation follows a federal class action lawsuit filed by Morgan & Morgan. The complaint alleged the plane crash “acted like a bomb” by igniting 220,000 pounds of jet fuel and other combustible materials in the surrounding area, resulting in 14 deaths and extensive property damage.
