Wrongful Death Lawsuit In Taiwan Crash
A woman whose 42-year-old husband was among 83 people killed in the October crash of a Singapore Airlines jet in Taiwan has sued the airline in federal court, blaming pilot error for the crash.
Johnna Renee Thomas of Mesa, Arizona, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Tuesday, seeking an unspecified amount of money for economic and property losses and punitive damages, over the death of her husband Philip, a Motorola Inc. engineer who was in Taipei on business.
"The crash was both foreseeable and avoidable," argues attorney Frank M. Pietre, who is representing Thomas. "The pilot made a wrong turn on the wrong runway and ignored all directives."
A spokesman for Singapore Airlines said the airline does not comment on pending litigation. The airline has offered family members of the deceased $400,000 each in compensation and is considering compensation for survivors.
This is the first wrongful death lawsuit filed in connection with the crash of Flight SQ 006, which was bound for Los Angeles when it crashed on take-off from Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek airport on Oct. 31, killing 83 of the 179 people on board.
Earlier this month a survivor of the crash, John Diaz of Santa Monica, California, sued the airline in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, charging the airline with negligence.
The plane went down during a typhoon after the aircraft apparently used a partially closed runway to try to take off. Singapore Airlines has accepted responsibility for the crash - the first deadly accident in its 28-year history - citing pilot error.
Thomas, in her lawsuit, charges that the airline failed to provide its pilots with proper training for takeoffs in severe weather and demonstrated a "disregard for lives and human safety."
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