Nearly a year after the crash of ValuJet Flight 592, many survivors of the 110 people killed in a crash in the Florida Everglades are opting for estimated million-dollar settlements with the airline and the company that mishandled volatile cargo.
Of 50 lawsuits filed against the discount airline, 19 have been settled, ValuJet spokesman Gregg Ken-yon said Wednesday.Meanwhile Wednesday, ValuJet said Wednesday it lost $18.5 million in the first quarter of 1997. The loss compared with a profit of $10.7 million for the same period last year. The per-share loss for the recent quarter was 34 cents, compared with a profit of 18 cents per share a year earlier.
SabreTech, the contractor that mishandled oxygen canisters suspected in the crash, has been named in 46 suits, and "a significant number" have been settled, company spokesman Jim Gran-done said.
Under the terms of the settlements, plaintiffs are barred from saying how much they are being paid. Neither ValuJet nor Sabre-tech would give the settlement amounts.
"You can bet we're talking a million-plus and in some cases more," said Miami attorney J.B. Spence, who represents one family currently in negotiations with lawyers for ValuJet, SabreTech and their insurance companies.
"I'm receiving a letter a day almost from lawyers telling me they've settled their cases."
Glen Engel, an airline analyst for Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York, said settlements in airline crashes usually range from $1 million to $2 million for each passenger.
"If it's a businessman or CEO who has a family, it's usually higher," Engel said. "If it's someone who's flipping burgers who doesn't have a family it's going to be less."
The industry record is $500 million paid by Pan Am to settle lawsuits stemming from the Dec. 21, 1988, terrorist bombing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.
The ValuJet airplane plunged into the Everglades May 11. Investigators so far have focused on 150 oxygen canisters improperly packaged and labeled by SabreTech mechanics and stored in the cargo hold. The canisters are believed to have ignited or fueled a fire that brought down the DC-9.