5th lawsuit filed in wake of deadly cargo plane crash near MIA as crews dismantle wreckage

NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A fifth lawsuit has been filed in connection to the deadly cargo plane crash near Miami International Airport, as crews work to remove the wreckage of the aircraft.

Pablo Rojas from the Podhurst Orseck law firm on Friday confirmed he filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sebastian Perdomo Torres.

Perdomo Torres was one of two survivors who were in a Ford Econoline van when, authorities said, it was smashed by the Prime Air Boeing 767-300 involved in Sunday afternoon’s crash.

“We have a terrible and preventable tragedy here at the airport. We have an aircraft that was going at too high a speed,” said Rojas. “And we have multiple companies and entities involved in operating the aircraft, contracting it out that were negligent in supervising, operating and vetting this flight operation.”

Perdomo Torres, 27, was one of seven people in the white van, just minutes away from the end of their cleaning shift when tragedy struck.

“He’s a survivor in every sense of the word. He experienced this accident fully, he was conscious the whole time He was actually able to see the airplane approaching the last final seconds,” said Rojas. “I say approaching, barreling towards the van at a very high speed. When the plane impacted the van, Mr. Perdomo Torres was thrown into the air.”

Perdomo Torres remains in the hospital’s intensive care unit, but now families of his colleagues who were killed have also hired legal teams and are filing lawsuits, including that of 75-year-old Julio C. Pineda.

Mark Lopez-Trigo from the Padron & Lopez-Trigo Law Firm is representing Pineda.

“Being able to put him to rest in an appropriate way, that’s justice number one for [his loved ones],” said Lopez-Trigo. “Justice number two is gonna be finding out answers. How did this happen? Why was Mr. Pineda taken away from his family?”

That is what loved ones and investigators want to know.

Friday morning, tow trucks and teams got to work dismantling the cargo plane that has been sitting in the same spot from when, authorities said, it overshot the runway on Labor Day weekend.

The National Transportation Safety Board unveiled new details after interviewing the pilots of the Boeing 767-300: Capt. Joseph Carroll, 55, and First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37.

“This was just the beginning round of interviews. We had questions about their background, about their training and their first review of how the flight went and how they set up for the final approach and the final approach itself, but we need to do additional interviews,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy.

According to flight data, about a minute before the plane appeared to touch down, “a pilot called for flaps to be set to 20 degrees, and the other pilot cautioned they were too fast. The other pilot made additional comments regarding the aircraft’s excessive speed throughout the remainder of the recording. There was not a consistent verbal response to the comments about speed.”

“There was a big workload going on in the cockpit, and not everything was a verbal response, which is why we wanted to talk to both pilots,” said Homendy.

As of Friday afternoon, all three surviving victims who are still in the hospital are listed in critical condition.

MIA officials said no date has been set as for when the cargo plane will be removed.

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