Delta Air Lines has settled with residents of several Los Angeles neighborhoods more than five years after a fuel dump doused dozens of people, including some school children, with harmful jet fuel, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The incident occurred in January 2020, when a Shanghai-bound flight taking off from LAX Airport was forced to return due to a malfunction impacting thrust.
Needing to shed weight to land, pilots were forced to dump fuel and the result was jet fuel falling onto local residents, including an elementary and high school.
Delta noted in court documents that it agreed to the settlement "without any admission of liability" to avoid the uncertainty and expenses of a trial and "to eliminate the distraction and other burdens this litigation has caused to Delta's business."
The settlement totals $78.8 million, with the victims receiving $50.6 million after attorneys' fees and other court costs. The fund breaks down to $33.9 million for property owners and approximately $16.7 million for residents.
"This settlement represents five years of intense and hard-fought litigation, and brings very real recovery to the class members both in terms of monetary recovery, as well as non-monetary relief," Filippo Marchino, an attorney for the plaintiffs from the X-Law Group, said in a statement.
"We are especially pleased to obtain this result for residents of the Southeast L.A. communities, comprised of hard-working families who asked only for respect and just treatment and rightly deserve this result."
A qualifying property owner will receive a minimum of $888.82 per claim, while a resident will receive at least $104.34, according to court documents obtained by the Times.
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