Alaska Airlines, Boeing admit responsibility for Flight 261 crash SEATTLE (AP) =97 Alaska Airlines has taken legal responsibility for a= January=20 2000 jet crash that killed all 88 aboard, and Boeing said it would not=20 contest liability over the plane's design. Both positions were declared in= =20 filings Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, where wrongful=20 death suits stemming from the crash of Flight 261 are pending. As a result,= =20 the only issue before a jury if the cases go to trial will be what damages= =20 should be paid to survivors of the victims who have yet to settle with the= =20 two companies, The Seattle Times reported. Cases brought by survivors have= =20 been settled for undisclosed sums. There are 16.50 wrongful death suits=20 pending; the half represents some members of one victim's family. Alaska admitted liability under an international treaty covering the flight= =20 and agreed to pay whatever compensatory damages a jury awards. A company=20 spokesman would not comment Monday, the newspaper said. The West Coast=20 regional carrier, which remains the subject of a separate federal criminal= =20 investigation into the crash, may later seek compensation from Boeing.=20 Alaska previously blamed Boeing-approved grease and flaws in the design and= =20 maintenance plan for the ill-fated MD-83, a theory rejected in December by= =20 the National Transportation Safety Board. Over 20 minutes, the plane went=20 into two steep dives, flew upside down and plunged into the Pacific Ocean=20 off Port Hueneme, Calif., northwest of Los Angeles, on a flight from Puerto= =20 Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle on Jan. 31, 2000. All 83=20 passengers and five crew members died. The safety board concluded the=20 primary cause was improper lubrication of a jackscrew assembly that=20 controls the horizontal stabilizer on the tail. Threads on the jackscrew's= =20 nut sheared off, causing the pilots to lose control of the plane. The board also found that lack of a fail-safe system in the plane=20 contributed to the crash but did not recommend that the jackscrew be=20 redesigned, asking only that the Federal Aviation Administration study the= =20 design of the plane. Boeing, which previously said Alaska failed to=20 maintain the plane properly, decided not to contest liability any longer=20 because it wanted to bring about an "expeditious resolution," company=20 spokeswoman Liz Verdier said. "In not contesting, we do not admit liability= =20 in these proceedings, period," Verdier said. "We're anxious to close this=20 out for the families." Brian Panish of Los Angeles, a lawyer for several=20 families, said the filings were an attempt to prevent a full airing of the= =20 facts surrounding the crash in hopes of reducing the damage amounts.=20 "Boeing's waving a white flag," Panish said. Last month Judge Charles R.=20 Breyer, who is overseeing the litigation, ruled out punitive damages=20 against Boeing. Alaska is immune from punitive damages under an=20 international treaty. Breyer now must decide how much jurors will hear=20 about maintenance lapses at Alaska and the history of the plane, which was= =20 built by McDonnell Douglas before the company was absorbed by Boeing in a=20 merger in 1997. Jury selection is scheduled to begin June 17. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.natalielaughlin.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************