Jury Awards Crash Survivor $6.5 Million
L I T T L E R O C K, Ark., Oct. 13 -- A jury awarded $6.5 million Thursday to a music student who claimed that she remains emotionally shattered more than a year after she survived the crash of an American Airlines jet at Little Rock’s airport.
Anna Lloyd, 22, cried as the verdict was read.
“I’m amazed this battle has been fought and we won. I have a lot of battles left to fight,” Lloyd said.
Eleven people, including the pilot, died in the June 1, 1999, crash of Flight 1420.
Lloyd had sought $15 million, while lawyers for the airline argued the $330,000 was sufficient. The airline argued that Lloyd could recover from her trauma with counseling.
Second Suit Brought to Trial
On the witness stand Wednesday, Lloyd sobbed as she recalled for jurors how she panicked as she sought a way to escape the burning aircraft. She testified she thought she would die.
A psychiatrist treating Lloyd testified that Lloyd is severely depressed and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from the crash. Dr. Stuart Harris of Little Rock said Lloyd has suicidal thoughts and said it is unlikely that she would ever be able to work.
Lloyd was also physically injured in the crash, hurting a knee, sustaining cuts and scrapes and suffering smoke inhalation.
Lloyd’s case was the second suit to go to trial from the crash before U.S. District Judge Henry Woods. The first resulted in a nearly $11 million judgment for Lloyd’s friend, Kristin Maddox, a fellow choir member from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia.
Woods said he would consider a motion by the airline that could result in the verdict being thrown out. He ordered both sides to submit written arguments. Also, American could appeal the verdict.
“I know its not over,” Lloyd said.
The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 airplane carrying 145 people went off the end of a runway as it attempted to land in a violent midnight thunderstorm. The plane hit a metal stanchion supporting a lighting system, broke apart and caught fire a few hundred feet short of the swollen Arkansas River.
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