LOS ANGELES/ATLANTA — More than six years after a Delta Air Lines flight dumped thousands of gallons of jet fuel over part of Los Angeles in 2020, the air line agreed to a settlement.
In January 2020, Delta Flight 89, flying from Los Angeles to Shanghai, dumped fuel over an elementary school and thousands of businesses.
Four teachers filed a lawsuit against Delta over the fuel dump, which the airline said was done to make a certain weight for safe flight.
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According to the settlement proposal, which was agreed to but not yet fully approved by a judge, 160,000 individual residents and more than 38,000 businesses were impacted.
The settlement proposal, if approved by a judge, would create a $50.59 million fund for those impacted as well as pay $24 million in attorneys fees and more for litigation costs.
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The four named plaintiffs in the case, the LA teachers who initially sued, will also get $15,000 each as service awards.
Delta will not have to admit liability or wrong-doing under the settlement, according to court records.
Announcing the agreement, representatives for the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit said there was a much larger level of participation in the lawsuit than is normally seen.
“The Class Plaintiffs are extremely pleased with this settlement and with the result achieved for the Class. Nearly 13,000 individuals submitted claims that were approved, which is an extraordinary level of participation and, ultimately, what this case was about—getting meaningful relief into the hands of the people we represent. This is a result worth celebrating,” the X-Law Group P.C. said in a statement. “We are also grateful to Delta for stepping up, working constructively toward a resolution, and doing the right thing for the people affected.”
Channel 2 Action News reached out to Delta for comment on the settlement proposal.
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