Two on Flight 4819, including Twin Cities woman, sue Delta over crash landing in Toronto

Two passengers on the Twin Cities to Toronto flight that crash landed Monday have filed lawsuits, the first to seek damages from Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.

Hannah Krebs, who lives in the Twin Cities, and Marthinus Lourens of Texas filed suit in federal court, claiming they suffered physical injuries and emotional distress. Both said they were aboard Flight 4819 when the airplane, a Bombardier CRJ-900, crashed, flipped over and skidded down the runway.

All 80 people aboard — 76 passengers and four crewmembers — survived the horrifying crash. Most of the 21 people hurt suffered sprains, head injuries, headaches, anxiety and nausea due to jet fuel exposure, according to authorities. The last injured person was cleared Thursday morning to leave the hospital.

In her suit filed in Minneapolis federal court, Krebs said the crash led her and fellow passengers to be thrown violently around the cabin. She is seeking compensation for claims of gross negligence under the Montreal Convention, an international treaty that sets liability standards for commercial airlines.

The plane was operated by Endeavor Air, a wholly owned Delta subsidiary based at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Endeavor is also named as a defendant in Krebs' lawsuit.

A Delta spokesman said Friday that the company does not comment on pending litigation.

Jim Brauchle, an attorney for Krebs, said the near-death experience of an airplane crash is truly unique. He said clients he has represented over the years often suffer lingering effects of the trauma.

“All of these passengers, what they’ve experienced, it’s going to change their life — permanently,” Brauchle said.

Brauchle said his firm, Motley Rice, based in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., is representing other clients and that he expects to file more lawsuits in the coming weeks.

Lourens, the other passenger, filed his lawsuit Thursday in Georgia. He claims to have been drenched in jet fuel while the plane was on fire.

Lourens suffered “significant” injuries to his head, neck, back, knees and face, according to the suit. He was also hurt after releasing his seatbelt as he hung from the ceiling and hit the floor, according to the suit.

Lawyers representing Lourens did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday night.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada is leading the crash investigation. The flight data and cockpit recorders were removed this week and sent off for a lab analysis, the agency’s senior investigator Ken Webster said Tuesday.

No cause for the crash has yet been determined. The wrecked plane was cleared from the crash site late Wednesday and transported to a hangar for further analysis.

A preliminary report on the crash could be completed within about 30 days. It’s common for investigations by the TSB to take more than a year.

Providing support to the TSB are representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. Delta and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which owns the Bombardier jets, also sent teams to Toronto this week to assist with the investigation.

Aviation experts who spoke to the Star Tribune this week said they trusted authorities would conduct a thorough investigation that could last as long as two years. Possible factors in the crash that investigators will consider include pilot error, poor weather conditions and mechanical failure.