Delta dumped jet fuel on Cudahy schoolkids, agrees to $79-million settlement
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- A $79-million settlement has been reached five years after 15,000 gallons of jet fuel from a Delta Air Lines plane were dumped onto Cudahy, drenching children playing at a school.
Delta Air Lines has agreed to pay $79 million for dumping 15,000 gallons of jet fuel onto a community in southeastern Los Angeles County five years ago, drenching children playing at a school, to settle a federal lawsuit by local residents.
On Jan. 20, 2020, Delta Flight 89 took off from Los Angeles International Airport en route to Shanghai with 149 passengers for what is typically a 13-hour nonstop flight.
That voyage, however, lasted only 25 minutes because of a plane malfunction, forcing the pilot to turn the aircraft around over the Santa Monica Bay and head back toward the airport.
In the lawsuit settlement, Delta said the plane lost thrust shortly after takeoff. The plane couldn’t land, however, because it was over the maximum landing weight of 160,000 pounds. Flights landing at LAX typically approach the airport from an inland route and take off over the ocean.
How did pilots of a Delta jetliner end up dumping fuel on a playground filled with children in Cudahy? That is the question many are asking.
En route back to the airport, the plane’s pilots dumped thousands of gallons of jet fuel over Cudahy and multiple schools.
Dozens of children, and 40 people overall, from Park Avenue Elementary School in Cudahy were hit by the fuel and treated by medical personnel.
Other schools, including Pioneer High School in Whittier, also claimed students were hit with the jet fuel.
Delta noted in court documents that it agreed to the settlement “without any admission of liability” to avoid the uncertainty and expenses of a trial and “to eliminate the distraction and other burdens this litigation has caused to Delta’s business.”
Air quality regulators in Southern Calfiornia accused Delta Air Lines of causing a public nuisance when the jet released fuel above L.A. The action can lead to civil penalties.
The lawsuit was filed by two Cudahy couples and homeowners — Frankie Lomas and Roxanda Yancor, and Jose and Maria Alvarado.
The settlement totals $78.8 million, which translates into $50.6 million for victims after attorneys’ fees and other court costs. The fund will be sliced into thirds, with two-thirds, or about $33.9 million, set aside for property owners and one-third, or about $16.7 million, for residents.
At bare minimum, a property owner will receive $888.82 per claim, while a resident will receive $104.34, according to court documents.
The estimated numbers of those who were affected are listed in the lawsuit as 160,000 residents and 38,000 properties.
Filippo Marchino, an attorney for the plaintiffs from the X-Law Group, said his clients were pleased with the outcome.
“This settlement represents five years of intense and hard fought litigation, and brings very real recovery to the class members both in terms of monetary recovery, as well as non-monetary relief,” Marchino said in a statement. “We are especially pleased to obtain this result for residents of the Southeast L.A. communities, comprised of hard-working families who asked only for respect and just treatment and rightly deserve this result”
Delta Air Lines declined to comment beyond its statements in the lawsuit.
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