SWA Lawsuit
 

I just heard on the news tonight that 4 passengers are suing SWA for putting them in danger. The lawyers are pushing for it to become a class action lawsuit on behalf of everyone who has flown on SWA for the past 6 years.

Any have any information on this?

-Fatty

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=173334

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Four passengers have filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, saying the company broke its contract with travelers by carrying them on planes that missed safety inspections over a period of about six years.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Birmingham, seeks class-action status on claims that include breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and negligent and reckless operation of an aircraft.

Lew Garrison, a Birmingham lawyer who represents the passengers, said Tuesday the class could include hundreds of thousands of people who traveled on Southwest planes from January 2002 through last month.

Garrison, in a telephone interview, said the lawsuit primarily seeks reimbursement for tickets for those flights on the grounds that the Dallas-based airline did not comply with government regulations and did not honor its contract with its customers.

The suit also seeks punitive damages on one count that claims Southwest behaved negligently in not grounding planes that had not been deemed airworthy in compliance with government standards, Garrison said.

The amount of damages was not specified.

Marilee McInnis, a spokeswoman for Southwest, said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

"Fortuitously, of course, nothing happened, everyone arrived safely at their destinations," Garrison said. "But that doesn't change the fact that Southwest did not comply with its obligations."

The "Contract of Carriage" on Southwest's Web site states: "All transportation is sold and all carriage is performed subject to compliance with all applicable laws and governmental regulations, including those of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Transportation Security Administration, many of which are not specified herein but are nonetheless binding on Carrier and all passengers."

The lawsuit claims Southwest violated this contract by not complying with FAA airworthiness directives "to correct pressing safety risks which might not be detected through regular maintenance." It says the FAA requires planes that do not meet these directives to be grounded until compliance is reached.

Federal regulators said last month that Southwest operated nearly 60,000 flights in 2006 and 2007 using 46 planes that had missed inspections for possible fatigue-related cracking on the fuselage areas.

The airline flew another 1,451 flights with the same planes in March 2007, even after discovering that it had failed to conduct the required inspections, the FAA charged. The federal agency proposed a $10.2 million penalty; all but $200,000 of the proposed penalty dealt with those later flights.

Southwest said six of the planes had small cracks that required repairs.

The FAA had ordered airlines in September 2004 to conduct inspections of some areas of the fuselage on some older models of Boeing 737 aircraft once every 4,500 flights.

According to the lawsuit, the Transportation Department's inspector general said in March 2007 that Southwest had 21 key inspections that were overdue by at least five years. Gayle Douglas, a Birmingham lawyer for the passengers, said that is why the lawsuit covers flights back to 2002.

Garrison said he did not know of any other lawsuits against Southwest over the missed inspections.

Lawyers are scum.

First of all the passengers will need to PROVE they actually flew on one of the planes that wasn't inspected. If they can't do that, then I see no way they will successfully recover any damages for their claims.

The sad part is that they will probably recieve some sort of settlement just to make this go away.

Some people have it in them and some dont. When I slip and fall on a wet floor in the mall I get up as quick as possible and walk it off hoping that no one saw. When the "other" types slip and fall they cause as big a scene as possible and do not move an inch until law enforcement, an ambulance, every manager in sight and their lawyer is contacted.

I would imagine that if a person bought a ticket with a credit card (most of people probably do), they could electronically figure out the day of flight and which tails were flown using the maintenance logs. Of course, as it already has been said, SWA might not have to prove anything -- they'll probably settle this out of court.

New question. Isn't the PIC responsible if he/she flies an airplane that isn't air worthy? I only bring this up because of sutuations that I know of at other carriers. On one such instance, an airplane was missing a required fire bottle and the FAA went after all of the pilots that had flown the aircraft.

Just curious if the pilots could not possibly be wrapped up into this. This is going to spell trouble for ALL airlines, not just SWA.

-Fatty

Assuming the PIC operated IAW the FAA approved means for determining airworthiness (whatever the ops manual says), he/she should be okay. It isn't the pilot's job to stand over the mechanics and confirm the work is done.

Years back, a major metropolitan transit system bus driver took a corner too sharply and hit a stoplight. The bus had 8 passengers on board.

The next day, over 30 people showed up to file claims against the transit authority.....

What is wrong with people any more? Can't they just enjoy life for what it is? They should thank God they can go see grandma after two hours of flying instead of two days of driving. I really think our legal system has become a major embarassment to our country. Just watch Gloria Alred on TV. What a shyster. People like her just solidify my position.:rolleyes: