Boeing supplier found liable in lawsuits over 1994 US Airways crash

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A Boeing Co. supplier is mostly to blame for the 1994 crash of a US Airways jet that went into a nosedive and slammed into a hillside, killing 132 people, a jury decided.

The verdict Friday means Parker Hannifin Corp., which made a valve in the plane's rudder, must reimburse the airline for most of the hundreds of millions of dollars US Airways paid to settle lawsuits brought by the families of those killed in the 1994 crash.

The jury found Parker Hannifin was 75 percent liable for the disaster near Pittsburgh International Airport. Boeing, which made the Boeing 737, was found to be 25 percent liable but will not have to pay any more money because it settled with the airline and victims' families in 1999, said Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier.

US Airways has never disclosed how much it paid, but attorneys for some of the victims' families have said the settlements were more than $1 million per passenger.

The jury rejected Parker Hannifin's argument that pilot error contributed to the crash.

"It's great for us that the pilots and the airline were found to have no liability," said Bill Pietragallo, US Airways' attorney.

Parker Hannifin spokeswoman Lorrie Paul Crum said the company will probably appeal.