3 Portland passengers sue Boeing, Alaska Airlines for $1 billion after door plug incident

Jenna Deml
·1 min read
1

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An aviation firm has filed a lawsuit for $1 billion against Boeing and Alaska Airlines on behalf of three Portland passengers who were aboard Flight 1282, in which a portion of the aircraft blew off mid-flight, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in PDX back in early January.

This suit comes after four passengers filed a class-action lawsuit later in the month. Additionally, an attorney representing another 22 passengers from the same flight filed an amended lawsuit on Feb. 7 making new allegations of negligence against Boeing and Alaska Airlines.

PBOT launches 2-week ‘March Madness’ campaign for pothole repairs

Jonathan W. Johnson LLC, who is representing the three passengers, stated in a press release that passengers Kyle Rinker, Amanda Strickland and Kevin Kwok were sitting 2 rows diagonally behind a 15-year-old boy whose shirt was sucked off during the rapid depressurization.

The suit alleges that Alaska Airlines had identified the issue with the plane before the incident and neglected to make further inspections before it was placed in service. The firm added they are seeking “to hold Boeing accountable for its negligence which had caused extreme panic, fear, and post-traumatic stress” among the 174 passengers and six crew members who were on board.

For those reasons, the lawsuit is seeking punitive damages from Boeing for not only the preventability of the incident, but because these manufacturing defects impacted numerous other Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, which all had to be temporarily grounded and inspected by the FAA.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.