By Sommer Brokaw, UPI
Nearly a dozen passengers from Aeromexico Flight 2431 are suing the Mexican airline for last week's crash that injured 85 people.
The plane crashed after takeoff from General Guadalupe Victoria International Airport in Durango. Most of the 103 passengers were hurt, but no one died.
Chicago-based Corboy and Demetrio filed the lawsuit Monday, suggested negligence on the part of Aeromexico. It says not enough attention was paid to the stormy weather, and the plane crashed after "an attempted take-off in a heavy storm including severe wind, rain, and hail."
[post_ads]The 11 passengers in the suit are Chicago residents, including teacher Néstor MartÃnez. Returning home from a family vacation, he was injured getting out of the downed plane.
Attorneys say the basis of the suit is to obtain compensation and find out what happened.
"Weather, to some extent, is always a factor in flight operations," attorney Francis Patrick Murphy said. "However, safe flight operations depend on how the airline and its pilots monitor, respond to and correct for severe weather conditions, both in the pre-flight and inter-flight decision making process, in order to avoid a mishap."
Durango Gov. José R. Aispuro Torres said strong winds affected the flight. Investigators are still working to find the cause, with the help of the jet's "black box" recorders.
"All of the people on this flight have the right to know exactly what caused the plane to crash," Corboy and Demetrio co-founder Thomas A. Demetrio said. "A plane just doesn't drop from the sky because it's raining hard."
The amount of money the suit seeks was not disclosed.
The firm said it has nearly 60 years of experience representing passengers in major airline disasters.
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