SEATTLE — Passengers aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 have filed a class-action lawsuit against Boeing after a door seal on a 737 Max 9 exploded last week, forcing the plane to depressurize and forcing it to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport (PDX).
a Washington based company The lawsuit was filed Thursday in King County Superior Court in Seattle. Six passengers and a family member are seeking compensation for injuries they sustained on the plane, including several who said they suffered difficulty breathing and earbleeds.
One passenger said the blast shook her head back and forth, “causing a concussion and soft tissue injuries to her neck and back.” She also reported that she had lost her hearing, and that her left ear was bleeding internally. Another person with a seizure disorder caused by “stressful situations” said he had an epileptic seizure after exiting the plane.
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The lawsuit also alleges that many of the oxygen masks that fell did not appear to be working. She added that in addition to physical injuries, passengers suffered emotional disturbances and trauma, with many of them fearing for their lives.
“The passengers were shocked, terrified, and disoriented, and entered a waking nightmare, hoping to live long enough to walk the Earth again,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said some passengers did not want to return to another plane after the emergency landing, choosing instead to use ground transportation or seek other arrangements to reach their destination.
The lawsuit accuses Boeing of violating its legal duties to the 171 passengers, including its role in manufacturing and inspecting the plane. The lawsuit alleges that Boeing delivered the aircraft without properly securing the door seal or bolts/seals used to secure the door, and failed to “design and/or build those aircraft safely.”
Earlier this week, Boeing CEO David Calhoun told employees at the 737 plant in Renton, Washington, that the company “acknowledges our mistake… and that this event can never happen again.”
“The NTSB has not yet determined the exact root cause of the disturbing decompression of Flight 1282. But given Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun's frank admission that this terrifying event was caused by Boeing 'mistake' (a simple look at its apparent negligence), our passenger customers have chosen These are all other passengers, spouses and registered domestic partners, as soon as reasonably possible,” Stritmatter's attorney Daniel Lawrence said in a statement as soon as possible in order to receive fair compensation for their injuries and compensation.
Stritmatter is the same company that filed a class-action lawsuit in November against Alaska Airlines and its subsidiary, Horizon Air, after off-duty pilot Joseph Emerson tried to shut down the engines mid-flight, prompting the plane to be diverted to PDX. .
KGW reached out to Boeing for a response, to which the company responded via email, “Thank you for reaching out. We have nothing to add.”
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Alaska Airlines announced it has canceled all flights through Saturday on Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration also Ground all MAX 9s In the United States on Saturday.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed earlier in the week that the four screws that prevent the door plug from moving were no longer attached to the recovered plug or the aircraft. So far, it's not clear if they're there at all. Portland science teacher Bob Sawyer found the smashed door seal in his backyard on Monday. Recovered by the NTSB, it will be sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C. for further examination.
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