Posted on 09/01/2006 11:35:58 AM PDT by Zuben Elgenubi
Family sues over deadly Comair crash
By JEFFREY MCMURRAY, Associated Press Writer 25 minutes ago
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The family of a woman killed when Comair Flight 5191 took off on the wrong runway and crashed in flames sued the airline Friday, blaming it for the nation's deadliest airplane disaster in five years.
The lawsuit accuses Comair of negligence and says passenger Rebecca L. Adams suffered "conscious pain and suffering" when the plane went down Sunday morning and quickly burned with 49 people still inside.
The only survivor was the co-pilot, who remained hospitalized Friday but was upgraded from critical to serious condition.
The regional jet had left the gate before dawn with 50 people aboard. Somehow, the pilots mistakenly turned onto the wrong runway, one too short for the twin-engine plane, and tried to take off. The plane crashed in a field just beyond Lexington's Blue Grass Airport.
The crash "could not have happened if those having control of the instrumentality had not been negligent," attorney Bobby Wombles of Lexington said in the lawsuit.
Nick Miller, a Comair spokesman, said he couldn't comment on pending litigation.
"Comair extends its heartfelt sympathy to everyone affected by the accident and our focus remains addressing the needs of family and loved ones in cooperating the investigative process," Miller said.
Earlier this week, a Texas law firm ran a full-page ad in the Lexington Herald-Leader promising to get maximum damages for the families of victims who hired it.
Comair, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc., operates 850 flights to 108 cities daily. Both airlines filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
The Lexington airport board met in a private session Friday morning to discuss "proposed litigation" against it as well. Michael Gobb, the airport director, said at least one family of the victims had told the airport it intends sue.
Federal officials have been looking into how the commuter jet ended up on the 3,500-foot-long runway, the shortest of two runways at the Lexington airport and meant only for small planes.
The taxiway to the 7,000-foot-long main runway had been altered by repaving one week before the crash.
In addition, only one air traffic controller was in the tower. The controller had had only two hours of sleep before starting work and had turned his back to do administrative work as the plane headed down the runway, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The FAA has since added a second controller.
Nearly a week after the crash, the first funerals began for the crash's victims.
Clark and Bobbie Sue Benton had boarded Flight 5191 for a trip to the Caribbean and vacation. They were buried Friday near Stanford in south-central Kentucky.
"We're asking difficult questions," the Rev. Wayne Galloway said at their funeral, attended by more than 300 people at Calvary Hill Baptist Church. "Why? Why do bad things happen to good people."
Another memorial service was planned Friday in Lexington for Larry Turner, who oversaw the University of Kentucky's extension service.
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I was going to ask, have they even buried her yet?
It would only be news if they didn't sue.
Wow. What a surprise.
U.S. attorney adds to warning about contacting crash families (Paper runs lawyer ad after crash)
I'd think it be tough to make funeral arrangements and meet with your attorneys at the smae time.
"instrumentality? Booby Wombles?
I got to go look for a picture of this lawyer.
According to the Lexington Herald, a memorial is scheduled for next Monday
Rebecca Adams had been working for Intergraph Corp. for only a year. But she made an impact on the Huntsville, Ala.-based company, which lowered its flag to half-staff Monday in her honor.
Adams was heading to Elk Grove, Calif., on a business trip Sunday when Comair Flight 5191 crashed as it took off from Blue Grass Airport.
"You would not believe the number of calls and e-mails coming in -- she was loved by clients and associates alike," said her boyfriend, Parham Baker of Lexington. "She had incredible friends from all over the country that will be flying in for her services."
Adams, 47, was a senior project manager for Intergraph and lived in Harrodsburg. She was born in Indiana, and lived in Virginia and New York before returning to Lexington.
She leaves behind her grown children, Josh, Chris and Lauren, all of Lexington. Baker said Adams typically logged 70- to 80-hour work weeks, but enjoyed hiking and tending to her farm in Mercer County.
When asked what he will miss most about Adams, Baker responded: "her."
"She was just a wonderful and fun and loving person," he said.
The family has tentatively planned a memorial service for Adams on Monday in Lexington.
Because death happens to everyone. Is anyone truly surprised?
It is a human's lot in life to die and then to be judged.
Oppps Booby=Bobby
oh crud...
What, the families of those lost shouldn't sue?
Bobby G. Wombles
| Address: | 201 W. Vine St. Lexington, KY 40507-1613 Map & Directions |
| Phone: | (606) 255-9004 |
| Fax: | (606) 255-9005 |
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I'm not suggesting that in the least.
Okay.
Kind of hard to tell where the priorities lie. </sarcasm>
CHA-CHING!
The new American Dream: Hope some relative you only visit on holidays and birthdays dies in some horrible accident, so you can play the sobbing victim as you cry your way to the bank.
This is usually the case in such lawsuits as this. The person was barely known or cared about until linked to some horrible tragedy. Maybe she was truly loved, and missed. If so, is it really honoring her memory to initiate a lawsuit before she's even in the ground?
In any event, it won't be an easy way to achieve closure, to be involved in and working on a lawsuit that could take many months, if not years to resolve. If it were me in that situation, I'd take whatever offer the airline offered and be done with it. After all, it's not like there is any great injustice to be corrected here; this isn't like the car manufacturer that purposely hid a glitch in its safety devices, so as to save the cost of a recall.
Sometimes accidents are correctly called just that, "accidents", for a reason.
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