Delta passenger 'drenched with jet fuel' sues airline after Toronto crash
The Brief
Marthinus Lourens, of Texas, sued Delta Air Lines in federal court on Thursday.
Experts expect additional lawsuits over the crash, which sent 21 passengers to the hospital.
The lawsuit comes after Delta offered $30K payouts to each of the 80 people on board.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Texas man who was on the Delta flight from Minneapolis to Toronto that crash landed this week has filed a lawsuit against the airline.
The backstory
Marthinus Lourens, who was a passenger on Delta Flight 4819 that crash-landed in Toronto on Monday, filed a lawsuit against the airline in federal court on Thursday. The lawsuit comes after Delta offered each of the 80 people on board a "no strings attached" $30,000 payout.
According to the lawsuit, Lourens, who was traveling for business, "suffered significant injuries to his head, neck, back, knees and face…." and was suspended upside down and "drenched with jet fuel."
The lawsuit also names flight operator Endeavor Air, a Minneapolis-based Delta subsidiary, as a defendant.
What we know
Delta offered each of the 80 people on board – 76 passengers and four crew members – $30,000, with "no strings attached." The payments would cost the airline $2.4 million.
The payments do not prevent passengers from suing the airline, experts said.
Payouts after crashes vary. In one case, Delta offered a woman $125,000 after her flight skidded off the runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York in 2015.
What they're saying
Chicago-based trial attorney Antonio Romanucci, who does not represent any of the passengers but has spoken with some of them, said payouts are not unheard of, but he is skeptical about this one.
"I have concerns with how quickly this offer came about," he said. "If they're trying to steer people away from suing them, I don't think that's going to work."
Others expect additional lawsuits over the crash.
"An accident like this hasn't really occurred in the U.S. – I mean, other than the one in D.C.," said Ryan Ewing, founder of aviation trade website AirlineGeeks.com. "I think you're going to start to see, you know, an avalanche of litigation."
Delta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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