Litigation Moves Forward

Mike Slack, Ladd Sanger and Rusty Allman continue their advocacy on behalf of our firm’s 30 clients from the Dominican Republic and the USA, whose loved ones died when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, November 12, 2001. The flight was on its way to Santo Domingo.

All 260 persons aboard and five on the ground in Belle Harbor, New York, died in what is the second-worst airline disaster in U.S. history.

“Although the NTSB has not officially determined the cause of the crash, it is clear that the crash resulted from a structural overload of the aircraft’s vertical stabilizer. The focus of the litigation is to determine whether that resulted from excess loads imposed by the pilot or inadequate structural margins resulting from Airbus’ design,” said Slack, who serves on the executive committee of the plaintiffs’ steering committee.

In April, Allman traveled to New York to depose American Airlines personnel on the airline’s flight training procedures. In June, Slack and Sanger deposed Airbus engineers in Paris regarding possible defects in Airbus 300-600 vertical stabilizer and rudder systems.

“The passengers on AA 587 were honest, hardworking people who had extended families relying on them, both in the United States and in the Dominican Republic. It’s time for American Airlines and Airbus to fully and fairly compensate these families for their tremendous losses. Given the appalling neglect of American Airlines and Airbus in this disaster, neither is in a position to engage in delay or exploitation of the cultural issues of the many Dominican victims,” Slack said.