$74 Million in Record-Setting Settlements in Crash of United Airlines #232 in Sioux City

Corboy & Demetrio represented 39 clients in lawsuits against United Airlines in the horrific crash of Flight #323 in Sioux City, Iowa, obtaining for them nearly $74 million in settlements, including a single record-setting settlement for the family of one deceased passenger of $25 million.

In the 1989 air disaster, the jet’s hydraulic control system failed, which led to the plane slamming into the runway, losing its wings, splitting into several pieces, and bursting into flames. In total, 111 of the 296 people on board died in the crash.

Three years after the air disaster, Corboy & Demetrio announced the securing of the largest wrongful death settlement in Illinois history up to that point in time (1992).

Corboy & Demetrio negotiated a record-setting $25 million settlement for the family of a 39-year-old self-made millionaire, who was on Flight 232 from Denver to Chicago to survey a possible job site for his company. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.  It was the largest settlement for the death of an individual in a commercial airplane crash.

In all, for 39 different clients, Corboy & Demetrio obtained a total of $73,900,000 in settlements. All federal cases handled by Corboy & Demetrio were tried in the Northern District of Illinois.

The tragedy occurred after the plane's tail-mounted engine exploded, severing all three hydraulic lines, causing the pilots to lose control of the aircraft. The pilots were credited with steering the aircraft by alternating the thrust of the plane's two other engines, but the emergency landing proved too much for the disabled plane. The right wing clipped the ground and the plane ignited and cartwheeled down the runway, the fuselage landing in a nearby cornfield. Remarkably, 185 people survived the crash.