Lawyers ask for punitive damages for Swissair victims

(AP) -- Lawyers for Swissair asked a federal judge Monday to decide whether families of the 229 people killed in last year's crash off the coast of Nova Scotia are entitled to punitive damages as the parties seek to negotiate a settlement.

(AP) — Lawyers for Swissair asked a federal judge Monday to decide whether families of the 229 people killed in last year’s crash off the coast of Nova Scotia are entitled to punitive damages as the parties seek to negotiate a settlement.

The families are requesting that U.S. District Judge James T. Giles reject a settlement package worth about $300 million because it would limit an estimated $1 billion in punitive damages.

They argue such an agreement would keep the families from learning the full extent of any potential misconduct involved in the September 1998 crash.

In Monday’s hearing, however, defence attorneys asked Giles to determine whether damages could be limited under the Death on the High Seas Act. The law only allows for the recovery of compensatory damages, or real losses associated with income and medical costs, and not punitive damages.

“We’re going to need your guidance and your ruling on these issues,” said Swissair lawyer Desmond Barry.

Giles urged the two parties to continue settlement talks on their own to avoid protracted court hearings.

“The decision on the legal issue or issues will probably only generate more legal questions. No matter what I decide, the matter will be elevated and decided by a higher court,” he said.

The families sued Swissair following the crash of Flight 111, which was bound from New York to Geneva when it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998. The pilots mentioned a strange smell and then complained of dense smoke shortly before the jet crashed.

Also sued were Boeing, which built the MD-11 jet; Delta Airlines, which had a ticket-sharing arrangement with Swissair; and Inflight Technologies, which provided the plane’s electronic entertainment system.

Attorneys for Boeing also told the court that a settlement agreeing to pay compensatory damages would be a “significant concession.”

Mike Holland, another attorney representing Swissair, Boeing and Delta, said a jury was unlikely to grant punitive damages, so he had been surprised when the plaintiffs went to court to reject the settlement offer.

Investigators still have not found the cause of the fire, but Canadian investigators found heat-damaged wiring on the wrecked plane. That prompted U.S. air safety officials in January to recommend that airlines inspect all MD-11 planes for electrical
problems.