Jury Hits Douglas With $32-Million Crash Suit Verdict

In a case stemming from a fiery jetliner crash at Los Angeles International Airport in 1978, a Torrance Superior Court jury on Thursday awarded Continental Airlines $32 million after it ruled that McDonnell Douglas Corp. made fraudulent claims about the crash worthiness of its DC-10 aircraft.

By a 10-2 vote at the conclusion of a four-month trial, the jury ruled that the Long Beach aircraft manufacturer practiced “fraud and deceit” by claiming that the wing fuel tanks on the jumbo jetliner would not rupture if the jet’s landing gear was torn off the aircraft.

Houston-based Continental filed the suit following the crash, which occurred during a takeoff in the rain. Four passengers were killed as a result of the crash and 70 others were injured when the Honolulu-bound jet apparently blew two tires, then tipped onto one wing and its fuel tanks broke open at the extreme end of the runway.

Don Hanson, a spokesman for McDonnell Douglas, said the firm will appeal the verdict.

Claims ‘Confusion’

“We strongly disagree with the jury’s verdict,” he said. “The verdict is, we believe, due to erroneous legal rulings which resulted in confusion on the part of the jury,” he said without elaborating.

Continental attorney Brent Goodrich said the suit revolved around McDonnell Douglas’ claims made to the airline in a sales contract that if the DC-10’s landing gear were to be ripped off, the aircraft’s wing fuel tanks would not rupture. When the accident occurred, the left tank ruptured, spilling an estimated 120,000 gallons of fuel on the ground, he said.

“It was a design flaw waiting for an accident to happen,” Goodrich said.

According to testimony at the trial before Judge Robert M. Mallano, many of the 197 passengers aboard the aircraft jumped from the wings after heat destroyed emergency escape chutes, Goodrich said. An elderly couple died on the ground and two others died later from injuries.

The jury, which deliberated 10 days before reaching a verdict, found McDonnell Douglas guilty of intentional fraud, negligence and breach of contract, and ordered the company to pay Continental $17 million in damages plus an additional $15 million in interest.

In addition, according to terms of an out-of-court settlement reached by both sides last Friday, McDonnell Douglas agreed to reimburse Continental $2.4 million plus interest that the airline had already paid in claims to passengers injured in the crash and the families of those killed.

Goodrich, the Continental attorney, said McDonnell Douglas had promised to undertake tests that would back up its claim that DC-10 fuel tanks would not rupture if the aircraft’s landing gear tore away.

But, he said, the manufacturer had not completed the tests when the 1978 crash occurred. After the crash, McDonnell Douglas advised airlines using the DC-10 to make design improvements in the aircraft’s landing gear, he said.

Goodrich said similar design changes, involving a “fuse pin” that allows the landing gear to break off without tearing open the wing tanks, were incorporated in the design of production line DC-10s at the Long Beach plant.

He said the pin had been used for years by other major aircraft manufacturers as a safeguard against fuel tank ruptures.

Hanson, the McDonnell Douglas spokesman, said he could not comment on Goodrich’s statements.

Hanson said he was unaware of any similar accidents involving DC-10 aircraft. A total of 396 of the aircraft, he said, are currently in service, 39 of them the KC-10 version used by the U.S. Air Force.

“The DC-10 is a completely safe airplane, as demonstrated by its 15 years of service all over the world,” Hanson said.

The DC-10 is built at McDonnell Douglas’ Long Beach facility. The company’s corporate headquarters is in St. Louis.