Delta to pay $79 million over 2020 Los Angeles fuel dump

Delta Air Lines has agreed to pay nearly $79 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over a 2020 fuel dump that drenched homes, schools, and playgrounds across Los Angeles.

Tens of thousands of properties were coated in jet fuel when a Delta flight bound for Shanghai dumped about 15,000 pounds of fuel at low altitude shortly after losing engine thrust on takeoff from LAX. More than 50 people, including schoolchildren, were treated for minor skin and breathing irritation.

Residents argued the crew could have released the fuel over the Pacific or at higher altitude, where it would have dissipated, per court filings . Delta denied wrongdoing, saying its pilots "did exactly what federal regulations and their FAA-approved training required them to do to respond to that in-flight emergency and ensure the safety of the passengers, crew, and people on the ground."

The airline also said a Federal Aviation Administration investigation later cleared the pilots of wrongdoing.

The agreement, filed this week in federal court and awaiting a judge’s approval, sets aside about a third for attorneys’ fees and costs, with the remainder to be distributed among roughly 38,000 property owners and residents. If everyone files a claim, payouts would average $889 per household and $104 per resident.

Part of the case centered on whether the fuel left lasting damage. A lab study found no petroleum hydrocarbons in soil after a week, undermining contamination claims. Delta also pointed to home sales data showing no fall in property values. Lawyers for residents nonetheless argued families deserved compensation for the disruption, calling the settlement a “fair and reasonable” outcome.

The deal caps more than five years of litigation and consolidates multiple lawsuits, including claims from local teachers. For affected communities in southeast LA, attorneys said, it marked the first meaningful recovery since the day jet fuel unexpectedly rained from the sky.

In a written statement, plaintiffs’ attorney Filippo Marchino of the X-Law Group said: “We are especially pleased to obtain this result for residents of the southeast LA communities, comprised of hard-working families who asked only for respect and just treatment and rightly deserve this result.”

Delta declined to comment but directed Quartz to its position in the settlement document in which it denied wrongdoing.

The statement said the company had decided to settle "without any admission of liability to resolve the uncertainty involved in the litigation".

It said this would also "avoid the significant legal expenses that it would incur by litigating the case through trial and any subsequent appeal, and eliminate the distraction and other burdens this litigation has caused to Delta’s business."

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