Clifford Law Offices filed more lawsuits in Illinois against United Airlines including on behalf of a couple who sat on the right-hand side of the plane when the airplane’s engine caught fire, forcing the aircraft to return to Denver on Feb. 20, 2021.
UA Flight 328, a Boeing 777-222, was en route to Honolulu when four minutes after takeoff the right engine failed and was engulfed in flames. Pilots were forced to turn back to Denver as passengers witnessed the plane’s engine on fire on the right side of the wing and engine debris falling to the ground. A loud bang could be heard on the plane’s cockpit voice recorder that was later recovered. Pilots were able to land the plane with one engine 24 minutes later.
A couple from Denver, Colorado, Frances, age 68, and Robert, 70, Brown, who was sitting on the right side of the plane began taping the engine on fire on their cell phone. They, along with at least a half dozen other passengers, suffer from significant trauma and distress as a result of the incident that they thought would be their last moments of life.
Clifford Law Offices already has filed individual lawsuits on behalf of a couple from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; a man from Woodstock, Maryland, outside of Baltimore; a man from Idaho and two passengers from Hawaii.
The civil lawsuits seek monetary compensation in the Circuit Court of Cook County for personal, pecuniary and emotional damages as a direct result of the emotional trauma passengers experienced on that flight.
“This incident should not have happened from the start,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, an internationally renowned aviation firm. He is lead counsel in the consolidated litigation involving a Boeing 737 MAX airliner that crashed in Ethiopia two years ago killing all 157 onboard. He represents the families of 72 of those victims. “Maintenance and inspection protocols should be in place that would prevent this type of horror from happening in the first place. These lawsuits will get to the bottom of what happened here so that these passengers can try to find some peace of mind as they attempt to continue with their lives.”
Video taken by the Colorado couple of the emergency shows the engine fully engulfed in flames as the plane flew with 239 people on board. Pieces of the aircraft were discovered on the ground below, including debris crashing through a home and narrowly missing a half-dozen teams at soccer practice on a nearby field.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is conducting an investigation into the incident.
For further information or to speak to attorneys Richard F. Burke, Jr., or Charles R. Haskins, attorneys at Clifford Law Offices please contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).