$3.3 Million Verdict Affirmed on Manus v. American Airlines

In January, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, affirmed a $3.3 million judgment in favor of Stephanie, Lauren and Emily Manus of Benton, Ark., in their lawsuit resulting from the crash of American Airlines Flight 1420 in Little Rock, Ark., on June 1, 1999.

“To date, this is the only passenger case related to the crash of AA1420 which has been successfully tried to verdict and affirmed on appeal,” said Mike Slack, who represented the Manus family in a five-day jury trial alongside co-counsel Ted Boswell and Jim Jackson of Boswell, Tucker & Brewster, a Bryant, Ark., law firm. The April 2001 trial was before the late Hon. Henry Woods in the U.S. District Court in Little Rock.

“I am very pleased for the Manus family because of what they had to endure both in the crash and at trial,” Slack said.

In its January 9 opinion, the court affirmed the damages awarded to the Manus family, noting that, “American did not contest its liability for compensatory damages, leaving only the amount to be determined by the jury.”

The Court of Appeals also commented, “It was for the jury to determine the amount that it felt would adequately compensate Stephanie and her daughters for the terror they experienced during and immediately after the crash itself, as well as for the post-crash trauma they have suffered and will continue to suffer. Although the amounts awarded may well represent the outer limit of that supported by the evidence, we cannot say that the experienced district court abused its discretion by ruling that the verdicts were not excessive as a matter of law.”