BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - American Airlines has wrapped up one legal problem but now faces the prospect of dozens of wrongful death lawsuits over the recent tragedy in Washington, D.C.
The company for more than three years fought the Department of Justice and a group of states that alleged its partnership with JetBlue - the so-called "Northeast Alliance" - was anticompetitive. With a federal appeals court recently ruling it is, all that was left was the bill.
Recent court documents show American is paying an unspecified amount in attorneys fees to D.C., Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arizona, California and Florida. A settlement on the issue was approved by Boston federal judge Leo Sorokin on Jan. 21.
Eight days later, American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan., collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River, killing all 64 on board and three Army service members in the helicopter. An aviation attorney who spoke to Fox News predicts litigation against the government and American will begin soon.
The fault is still yet to be attributed, but as recent events in California show, plaintiffs lawyers won't wait for an official cause before finding clients. Theories abound over what caused the massive wildfires in the Los Angeles area, with plaintiffs lawyers blaming Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and Southern California Edison.
The legal actions accuse LADWP of failing to ensure there was sufficient water to aid in fighting the fire that destroyed the Pacific Palisades community.
And the actions against Edison indicate plaintiffs intend to accuse the electrical utility of either sparking the Eaton fire that ravaged Altadena or taking actions that allegedly could have worsened the blaze.
On Jan. 14, attorneys with the firms of Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis, of Santa Barbara, and Robertson & Associates, of Westlake Village, filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.
The suit was filed on behalf of an untold number of the "survivors of the deadly Palisades Fire," according to a release announcing the lawsuit.
Lawsuits have been filed or are soon expected from a number of law firms.
These include a consortium of plaintiffs' attorneys, marketing themselves as "Wildfire Recovery Attorneys."
In D.C., it could take the National Transportation Safety Board about a year to determine the cause of the crash, according to Jamie Lebovitz, the chair of the aviation practice group at Nurenberg, Paris, Heller & McCarthy.
Lebovitz - a plaintiffs lawyer who focuses his scope on airlines, aircraft manufacturers, railroad and trucking companies and the federal government - said the recovery of black boxes on board both crafts will be pivotal.
“The training and experience of the commuter jet aircraft will be one of the specific areas to focus in on—and that aircraft was operated under the name of American Airlines by PSA Airlines, which is based in Ohio," he said.
One reason why plaintiffs lawyers urge a quick response for those who anticipate having wrongful death claims is timely filing of a civil discovery petition to ensure preservation of evidence, the Nurenberg firm says.