Asiana Drops Its KTVU Lawsuit, But Faces One Filed By Flight 214 Passengers
Asiana Airlines dropped its lawsuit against KTVU, the television channel that aired those fake racist pilot names, a day after 83 passengers from the crashed Flight 214 filed to sue Boeing—with the expectation that the South Korean airline soon will be added as a defendant.
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"Asiana Airlines has decided not to proceed with the case since KTVU has issued a formal apology and in order for us to focus all our efforts on managing the aftermath of the accident," the company announced Wednesday morning. An intern with the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed a bunch of racist, fake pilot names to KTVU during their investigation of Asiana's Flight 214's crash landing at San Francisco International airport. (Examples: "Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo.") Needless to say, that intern was sacked. The airline was going to sue the station, but Asiana has a bigger legal flight to deal with now, so it's calling the whole thing off.
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Yesterday, lawyers representing 83 passengers on the crashed flight filed the initial documents for a lawsuit against Boeing, the company that manufactured the jet that crashed. Ribbeck Law Chartered, a Chicago-based law firm, filed a petition for discovery in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois that demands the defendants turn over all possible relevant information for the type of aircraft that crashed—a Boeing 777. Asiana wasn't included in the initial court filing, but the airline's name will be added at some point over the next few days. Another lawsuit filed in California by a woman and her son who were passengers on the flight is seeking at least $5 million in damages for injuries suffered in the crash. We have a feeling the litigious backlash is just starting.
