Agrees To Pay Over $3.5 Million In Fees And Expenses

Southwest Airlines has settled a lawsuit which stemmed from safety issues uncovered last year, and resulted in millions paid in fines to the FAA.

Southwest has agreed to pay over $3.5 million in fees and expenses for the plaintiff's lawyers, and in exchange claims against Southwest, its officers and directors will be dropped.

The FAA had proposed $10.2 million in fines against the airline for failing to inspect some of its older 737's on schedule, and for continuing to fly the planes after they knew they were overdue for inspection for fuselage cracks. It finally settled on a $7.5 million fine, and agreed to upgrade inspection procedures.

The Dallas Morning News reports that the lawsuits were brought by the Carbon County, Pennsylvania Employees Retirement System, which had invested in Southwest.

In reaching the settlement, Southwest said all those named in the lawsuit  "deny all allegations of wrongdoing, deny that they committed any violation of law, deny that they acted improperly in any way." The airline said it settled  to end the litigation and put the matter to rest.

FMI: www.southwest.com