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FATHER SUES OVER COMAIR CRASH
Saturday, September 9, 2006
Top 20 Multi-Million Dollar SettlementsThe Alliance resident who lost his 28-year-old son in the crash of Comair Flight 5191 nearly two weeks ago in Kentucky has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Comair and its parent company, Delta Air Lines.
Richard Harris is seeking compensatory and punitive damages of more than $75,000 from those airlines in a U.S. District Court in Kentucky. His son, Erik Harris, a 1996 graduate of West Branch High School, died as a passenger on the doomed flight bound for Atlanta. The Lexington, Ky., resident, a supervisor for a ballistic materials company, was on his way to New Orleans for a business trip.
"He had a bright and vibrant future, and it was taken away by the conduct of the various defendants," said Allen Schulman Jr., Richard Harris' Canton-based attorney. "Clearly, this was a case of really gross negligence."
Schulman said he expects separate lawsuits to be filed on behalf of Harris against the Federal Aviation Administration and Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, where the accident killed 49 people before dawn on Aug. 27. Only the flight's co-pilot survived.
Investigators have found that the plane, a CRJ-100 regional jet, tried to take off in light rain from the wrong runway, which was about 1,500 feet too short for a proper takeoff. The plane crashed off the runway, plowed through a fence and burst into flames.
The FAA, which supervises air traffic controllers, said only one air traffic controller was on duty, when there should have been two. That controller cleared the flight for takeoff and then looked away to do some administrative work, not seeing that the plane was on the wrong runway.
In court papers filed Wednesday, the suit said the Comair flight's crew failed to use acceptable piloting techniques and that Comair and Delta were responsible for the crew taking off from the wrong runway.
Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx said her company was not commenting on pending litigation.
The families of at least two others who died in the crash also have filed lawsuits. Schulman said all the cases could be consolidated. He said other attorneys hired by Richard Harris include Dennis Clunk, who's also Alliance's treasurer, and Richard Schaden, a Colorado-based lawyer who's an aviation expert and pilot.
"It's a devastating shock to the entire family. There is a strain of anger," said Schulman. "Had basic flight operations been followed, this tragedy would not have occurred."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach Repository writer Robert Wang at (330) 580-8327 or e-mail: robert.wang@canton
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