"Lawyer Representing Family In Mid-Air Collision Suit Reveals What American.."
From a Forbes Breaking News YouTube clip in which the Chicago-based aviation attorney, Robert Clifford, answers some questions about the status and expected progress of the lawsuits.
The headline refers to Mr. Clifford attributing to legal counsel for American telling him that the collision is "not our problem", the "helicopter ran into our aircraft" and words to the effect there was no reason for counsel for one of the eventual plaintiffs would want to talk to the airline. There was context also - some questions related to how many lawsuits would be filed and litigated, and in reply, Mr. Clifford related that in the Ethiopian accident litigation, some families settled with the airline prior to litigation commencing in earnest. Not so with American at this juncture, he noted.
Mr. Clifford went on to say that the plaintiffs will "show their [American's] responsibility" although there was no elaboration as to the causal sequence of the accident (not that any lawyer would lurch far ahead of what the NTSB has publicly disclosed to date). He also stated that publicly available information indicates that American Airlines (or perhaps its holding company - this was not clarified) had "drawn down massive reserves" in "London", not difficult to infer that this was in reference to insurance coverage. Unsurprisingly, Counsel drew the further inference that American Airlines would not have done so unless it had liability concerns (in so many words) - as to which reasonable minds certainly can and should differ.
One perhaps interesting bit from the video clip is that Mr. Clifford anticipates that a Plaintiffs' Steering Committee or Executive Committee will be formed and approved by the Court, so that discovery practice will not need to be conducted multiple times (one deposition of a given witness rather than one by each plaintiff, and so on).
Edit: and the first federal court lawsuit has been filed.