Alaska Airlines January crash lawsuits to be consolidated

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco will be the center of legal activity for the lawsuits arising from the Jan. 31 crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

The lawsuits brought by hundreds of plaintiffs, including the families and estates of the 88 people killed in the crash, will be consolidated for pretrial proceedings, including the discovery of evidence.

The families of the victims say the case against Alaska Airlines could raise questions about U.S. aviation safety. Allegedly improper maintenance operations at an Alaska Airlines hangar in Oakland are the subject of a federal criminal investigation dating from 1998.

Attorneys on both sides of the case agreed with a panel of federal judges who, in a ruling made public Wednesday, chose San Francisco over Seattle or Los Angeles. Alaska Airlines is based in Seattle, and typically, cases are assigned to the jurisdictions nearest the crash. That would have been Los Angeles, but the city already is backed up with other litigation.

Flight 261 crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Ventura County while flying from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco.

Civil wrongful death proceedings could begin within weeks, but it will be about eight months before a trial or series of separate trials can start. At least 14 wrongful-death claims have been filed so far.

Boeing is also a defendant in the case. Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas, which built the MD-83 airplane that crashed. At least one attorney plans to focus on Boeing and the possibility of a design flaw in the planes.

Other attorneys said they planned to examine the maintenance practices of the airline. The Federal Aviation Administration officials have said it is likely that possible disciplinary action may follow a special inspection of the airline.

The plaintiffs are expected to seek hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.