Lawsuit accuses UPS, General Electric and Boeing of negligence in fatal plane crash in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A lawsuit was filed Thursday against UPS, General Electric and Boeing, claiming the companies' recklessness contributed to the plane crash Tuesday that killed at least 14 people.

Shakeara Ware, who lives near the crash site, joined Triple D, Inc., and Ensey LLC, in the class action complaint filed by Morgan & Morgan. Triple D is an auto repair shop on Knopp Avenue destroyed by the plane, and Ensey LLC, owns the building where Triple D, Inc., operates, according to Jefferson County property records.

"(Their) recklessness has upended the lives and livelihoods of Plaintiffs and numerous Kentuckians, who live with trauma, fear and uncertainty caused by Defendants' actions," the lawsuit says.

UPS Flight 2976 was fully loaded with fuel for a nine-hour flight to Honolulu from UPS Worldport when it went down around 5:15 p.m. Nov. 4. According to documents WDRB requested from the Federal Aviation Administration, the MD-11 jet built by McDonnell-Douglas in 1991 had major maintenance completed just months before this devastating crash.

As of this writing, 14 people have died as a result of the crash.

"As a direct and proximate result of each Defendant’s willful and wanton conduct, Plaintiffs and Class Members suffered significant injury, discomfort, inconvenience, loss of use and enjoyment of property, emotional distress, business interruption, revenue losses, lost wages and damages relating to the repair and remediation of their property," the lawsuit says.

In a news conference Thursday in Louisville, NTSB member Todd Inman said the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder was quickly flown Wednesday to Washington, and the information was successfully extracted. A transcript with "pertinent information" will be released soon, but Inman said the NTSB doesn't release audio in these situations. The speed and altitude readings were collected at 5:13:32 Tuesday.

On Thursday, Inman said investigators walked runways 17L and 17R at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport and found multiple pieces of engine fan blades as well as the main component of the left engine. Investigators have reviewed airport security video and said it showed the left engine detaching from the plane during the takeoff.

The suit also takes aim at the aircraft itself, saying the MD-11 and CF-6 engines have a long history of catastrophic failures — and that the MD-11 has the second-worst safety record of any commercial aircraft still flying.

“There was maintenance done on this engine in particular that did cause the wing to come off the airplane … and if that was done adequately and appropriately, that certainly should not have happened,” attorney Tanner Shultz said.

However, NTSB investigators said it was the engine that detached from the plane, and it will likely be some time before a cause is determined.

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The complaint cites two other MD-11 crashes — including a 2009 fatal FedEx crash in Tokyo — and claims similar defects “caused or contributed” to what happened in Louisville. It also points to three major CF-6 engine crashes in the last 50 years: a 2016 crash in Chicago, a 1989 Sioux City crash that killed 112 people, and a 1976 crash in Chicago that killed 273. Attorneys say those engine problems likely played a role in Tuesday’s fiery crash.

Another lawsuit is also expected — from Whiteford, Taylor & Preston — on behalf of Kentucky families who were injured or killed, including employees at Grade A Recycling.

“There’s one thing to have a tragedy created by Mother Nature. It’s another thing to have one created by human beings,” Grade A Auto Parts CEO Sean Garber said. He said three of his employees are still unaccounted for, including Megan Washburn, a mother of two, and 52-year-old John Loucks. “It feels like there's obviously been a high level of incompetency or neglect done to cause this type of tragedy, and that makes me angry."

The lawsuit asks for an order certifying the class as well as unspecified damages. You can read the full lawsuit below. Morgan & Morgan said many more plaintiffs have joined the suit since its filing. The firm is seeking a jury trial and class-action status.

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