Airline Contests Punitive Damages

Alaska Airlines said it is arguing in federal court in San Francisco that international laws shield it from punitive damages sought by families of 88 people killed when Flight 261 crashed last January off the California coast. An airline spokesman said it would be willing to settle for 100% of the compensatory damages but did not think that punitive damages apply. Co-defendant Boeing Co. concurred. Besides punitive damages, plaintiffs’ lawyers seek compensation for the passengers’ emotional distress after the MD-80 dove thousands of feet, then stabilized, then plunged into the sea.