Delta to Fork Over $79M for Dumping Tons of Fuel on LA

Delta Air Lines has agreed to shell out $79 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from a 2020 incident in which one of its jets dumped thousands of pounds of fuel over Los Angeles, coating schools, homes, and playgrounds. The payout, still awaiting a judge's green light, comes after years of legal wrangling involving roughly 38,000 affected property owners and residents, many of whom said the fuel fallout disrupted their lives and deserved compensation, even if the long-term damage was debated, per Quartz.

The drama unfolded when a Delta flight bound for Shanghai lost engine thrust just after takeoff from LAX and jettisoned about 15,000 pounds of fuel at a low altitude. More than 50 people, including schoolchildren, were checked out for skin and respiratory irritation, though cases were minor. Residents said the crew of the Boeing 777 could have dumped the fuel elsewhere or at a higher altitude, but the airline countered that its pilots followed all protocols and were later cleared by the FAA, per Reuters.

Delta is also pushing back on claims of long-term impact. "Even at the maximum amounts predicted by plaintiffs' experts, any jet fuel reaching the ground would quickly dissipate and would not be detectable even one hour after the fuel jettison, let alone weeks, months, or years later," the airliner wrote in a statement, per CBS News. If approved, around a third of the settlement will go to legal fees, while the remainder will be split among those affected. The math breaks down to about $889 per household and $104 per resident, assuming everyone files a claim. Delta maintains it did nothing wrong and says the decision to settle was about avoiding further legal headaches and costs.