Facing 16 lawsuits for Toronto Pearson airport crash, Delta deflects blame
Delta Air Lines denies it's entirely at fault for injuries sustained in the Feb. 17 upside-down crash at Toronto Pearson International Airport, according to a U.S. court filing reviewed by CBC News.
The fiery landing — on Delta Flight 4819, operated by its subsidiary, Endeavor Air — sent 21 of the 80 people on board to hospital. The incident has prompted passengers to file at least 16 separate lawsuits in U.S. federal court, seeking unspecified damages.
At least 16 Canadians, who were among the 80 people on the flight, allege in lawsuits they were injured in the crash, which took off from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. The Canadians' civil cases were all filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.
"Plaintiffs claim that these injuries and losses are Delta's and Endeavor's fault, and not the fault of any other party," the companies' attorney Michael G. McQuillen wrote in a filing last month. "Defendants deny these allegations."
McQuillen said further lawsuits could be filed in the case, with "the potential for more than 70 plaintiffs." The filing, dated May 22, sought to consolidate all the lawsuits — including those filed by passengers from other states — in federal court in Minnesota.
More passengers have since filed their own civil complaints in connection with the Toronto crash. A CBC News review of U.S. court records finds five further cases were filed this week, including one lawsuit on behalf of a Canadian woman and a minor identified only as "G.O.G."
Both plaintiffs "suffered, and continue to suffer, from extreme bodily and mental injuries and economic losses as a direct result" of the hard landing, their lawsuit states. Several of the cases were filed by Minneapolis law firm Chestnut Cambronne and use similar wording.
The lawsuits allege "gross negligence and recklessness" by crew members, who were "inadequately trained and supervised" by Delta and its subsidiary. Endeavor operated the CRJ-900, built by Canadian firm Bombardier.
Dark smoke could be seen billowing from the fuselage after the mid-afternoon crash. Social media posts showed passengers left hanging upside down after the jet flipped over and came to a stop on the snowy runway.
Delta announced afterward it would offer $30,000 US to each passenger on the flight, saying the proposal comes with "no strings attached."Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) found a warning system on the plane sent an alert "indicating a high rate of descent" less than three seconds before landing, according to a preliminary report published in March.
The TSB also said that less than one second before landing, the angle of the plane's aircraft, known as the pitch attitude, was one degree. The flight operations manual states pitch attitude at touchdown should be between three and eight degrees, the report said.
"It is too early to draw conclusions as to the causes of this accident," the TSB said at the time, adding a full investigation report will follow "in due course."
The allegations in the lawsuits have not been tested in court. Both Delta and the Minnesota-based attorneys who filed the lawsuits, Bryan L. Bleichner and Christopher P. Renz, did not immediately respond to CBC's requests for comment on Tuesday."The whole descent seemed to be off," one of the plaintiffs, Clayton Bouffard recently told CBC from his home in Greater Sudbury, Ont. "I remember telling my wife that we seemed to be going fast."
Bouffard said in an interview more than a month after the crash that he continued to have a sore neck and hadn't slept well ever since.
"I'm just thankful all 80 people survived that," he said. "It's amazing we all survived."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
13 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
What is the Lawrence Bishnoi gang? And why do Canadian politicians want them labelled terrorists?
An India-based criminal organization is drawing increasing political scrutiny in Canada, with some saying it needs to be declared a terrorist organization. This week, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called on Ottawa to declare the Lawrence Bishnoi gang a terrorist organization, joining a chorus of other voices. 'We must take transnational crime seriously and that means giving law enforcement the investigative tools to combat these sophisticated criminal networks,' Brown said on X. Brown was joined by deputy mayor Harkirat Singh and regional councillors Gurpartap Singh Toor and Navjit Kaur Brar in the request to have the Lawrence Bishnoi gang declared a criminal organization by Ottawa. 'The Bishnoi gang, a transnational criminal network, led from India, has been linked to a growing wave of violence, extortion and intimidation targeting South Asian communities in Brampton and across the Region of Peel,' Brown said in a prepared statement. The statement did not give examples of specific violent incidents. The Lawrence Bishnoi group was also named in the murder of Brampton-based rapper Sidhu Moose Wala, when Wala was in India in 2022. Bishnoi, who is in his early 30s, is the son of a police officer and was educated in a convent school. Now in custody in India on more than two dozen charges, including murder and extortion, he awaits trial. He has been accused of using intimidation tactics to extort business owners in Punjabi diaspora communities in North America, Europe and the Gulf states. The gang is reportedly run by Bishnoi through encrypted cell messages, even though he is behind bars in India. Brown's comments follow similar ones earlier this week, when B.C. Premier David Eby urged the federal government to label the gang a terrorist organization because of extortion and other crimes against the South Asian community on the West Coast. Eby said Tuesday that he was going to write to Prime Minister Mark Carney, asking that the Lawrence Bishnoi group be labelled a terrorist group 'to enable police to be able to use the necessary tools to investigate.' Last fall, the RCMP stated the gang was targeting members of the pro-Khalistan movement who were on Canadian soil, allegedly acting for the Indian government. On the West Coast, the Lawrence Bishnoi group was accused this week of firing bullets into the home of a Punjabi music producer. Last year, shots were reportedly fired at the home of Punjabi music star A.P. Dhillon on Vancouver Island and in 2023, shots were fired outside the West Vancouver home of Bollywood singer and actor Gippy Grewal. Indian media said the Lawrence Bishnoi group claimed responsibility for both attacks. Moves to label the Lawrence Bishnoi gang a terrorist group throw complications into Carney's attempts to rebuild the Canada-India relationship. Eby's announcement on Tuesday was praised by the World Sikh Organization of Canada. 'Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies have linked the Bishnoi gang to assassinations, extortions, and intimidation carried out at the direction of Indian government agents including the 2023 murder of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and other violent crimes,' the organization said. With files from The Canadian Press
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Bloomberg
Canada Says Network Devices Compromised in China-Linked Hack
Canada's cybersecurity agency said Chinese-backed hackers were likely behind recent malicious activity targeting domestic telecommunications infrastructure, warning that three network devices registered to a Canadian company were compromised in the attacks. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation urged Canadian organizations to take steps to harden their networks against the threat posed by Salt Typhoon, a group linked to the Chinese government, in a bulletin issued late on Friday.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Missing toddler found safe on side of road 90 miles from home — as cops reveal mom's alarming online search before her disappearance
A toddler was found alive and wandering on the side of a Canadian highway nearly 100 miles away from home after a frantic four-day search — as cops revealed her mother made several unsettling online searches, including for children's urns and funeral arrangements, before the tot's disappearance. Claire Bell, 3, was discovered on an Ontario highway Wednesday afternoon, some 90 miles west of her home in Montreal, Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police, said. The tot was seen Sunday morning leaving an emergency exit of her apartment building in Montreal's La Salle region with her mother, Rachel Todd, and her pet chihuahua, according to Le Journal de Montréal. Advertisement Claire Bell, 3, was found alive and wandering on the side of a highway nearly 100 miles away from home after a frantic four-day search. Surete du Quebec Her mother reported Bell missing later in the day in Coteau-du-Lac, about 60 miles away from where she was last seen. A large-scale 'frantic' search was then carried out in Quebec and Ontario following the missing report, according to CTV. Advertisement Hundreds of police and civilians went searching for the missing tot, according to the Montreal Gazette. Bell was found wandering alone on the side of Highway 417 in Ontario after a drone search was deployed over a witness tip, the outlet said. A chihuahua that matched the description of one believed to be with Bell when she was last seen was found dead close to the souvenir shop where Todd reported her daughter missing. Cops are now searching for an important witness who may have more information about what happened in the hours between when Bell was last seen and reported missing by her mother, the outlet reported. Advertisement Bell's mother, Rachel Todd, was arrested and charged with child abandonment. Gilberto Mesquita – The witness is a woman who lives on a farm either in the Montérégie region or in Ontario, speaks English and French, and had met the missing girl's mother on Sunday between when she was last seen and reported missing. Todd, 34, was arrested and charged with child abandonment, according to the outlet. Advertisement Investigators allegedly found alarming online searches, including funeral arrangements and children's urns, when they looked through Todd's phone after her arrest, Le Journal de Montréal reported. 'This story really, really doesn't look good,' a police source working on the case told the outlet. Court proceedings for Todd have been delayed until Friday, the Gazette said.
