Gol Families Sue Embraer, Pilots in U.S. Courts Seeking Millions

A group of lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in damages were filed Friday in federal court on behalf of family members of some of the 154 people killed in Brazil's worst air disaster.

The 16 lawsuits contend that several factors combined to cause an executive jet and a Gol airlines Boeing 737 to clip each other in mid air, causing the jetliner to plunge into the Amazon rain forest Sept. 29. No one was injured in the smaller plane.

"I think we're going to find out, like in all of these tragedies, that it wasn't a single mistake. It was a series of mistakes," said Steven C. Marks, lawyer for the families filing the lawsuits.

A dollar figure for the damages was not mentioned in the court filings, but Marks said it would be in the millions of dollars.

The Embraer Legacy 600 jet was traveling from the southern city of Sao Jose dos Campos to the United States when the accident occurred at 37,000 feet, an altitude usually reserved for flights headed in the opposite direction.

The lawsuits name the Embraer's owner - Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based ExcelAire - and the jet's U.S. pilots - Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino.

The lawsuits contends they failed to maintain proper altitude and didn't maintain proper communication with Brazilian air traffic controllers. Brazilian authorities say the aircraft's transponder was either turned off by the pilots or malfunctioned. The transponder operates the aircraft's anti-collision system.

Brazilian authorities have accused the pilots of exposing an aircraft to danger. Both pilots were forced to remain in Brazil for 71 days after the crash, but were allowed to leave after agreeing to return to face any criminal charges.

ExcelAire declined comment because the company had not seen the lawsuits, a spokeswoman said. In January the company said in a statement that the pilots did not disengage the transponder and that there were no indications in the cockpit of a failure.

Brazilian investigators have also said that air traffic controllers bear some responsibility for the crash.

The lawsuits also level negligence and product liability claims against the maker of the transponder, Honeywell International Inc. Officials at that corporation declined comment because they had not yet seen the lawsuits.

The lawsuits also contend that a factor in the crash were defects in an air traffic control system developed and maintained by Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. and two other companies.

Lockheed Martin spokesman Scott Lusk said the claims are without merit and that the system "functioned properly and was not a factor in the collision."

Several other lawsuits have been filed elsewhere in the United States by family members of those killed, Marks said.

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