DENVER, Colo. — More than 70 passengers, crew members, and an air traffic controller are suing over a deadly incident at Denver International Airport, and the lawsuit has grown to include a wrongful death claim after one plaintiff died days after attorneys first spoke publicly about the case.
Law firms Ramos Law and Watts Law Firm filed the lawsuit on September 17, representing plaintiffs who were on board Frontier Airlines Flight 4345 when the plane struck a trespasser on the runway earlier this year. The trespasser had breached the airport's perimeter fence just minutes before the collision. There were 231 passengers and crew members on board.
Denver7 first spoke with the law firms about the potential lawsuit on May 13. Denver7 has learned one of the plaintiffs died just days after that interview, and attorneys say her death is directly tied to the crash.
Wrongful death claim
The lawsuit claims passenger Silva Ermelinda de Cervantes died as a result of inhaling smoke, toxic fumes, and combustion byproducts.
"One client, who was older, had suffered that exposure, and then eventually suffered a stroke in a matter of days after the incident," attorney Jessica McBryant said.
The lawsuit also claims passengers may have been exposed to ‘bloodborne and communicable pathogens’ after the trespasser was sucked into the plane's engine, dispersing biological material into the cabin.
"You have the mental trauma and event of being involved in it as a passenger, but then you have that horror and that gore of seeing it afterwards and realizing this just happened, right? And then now your body is going to have to process that, for if I'm very honest with you, for life," attorney Joseph LoRusso said.
Three systems, one catastrophic failure
The suit names Denver International Airport, four of its top officials, a private security company, and a network of behavioral health operators for the events leading up to the incident. McBryant explained that DIA itself cannot be sued directly.
The lawsuit argues that three independent systems all broke down simultaneously — and the combination was catastrophic.
Airport ground sensors triggered an alarm when the intruder scaled the fence, but an operator mistook him for a herd of deer and no one halted runway operations or warned the flight crew. Denver had outsourced perimeter patrol to Covenant Aviation Security, LLC, whose personnel allegedly failed to detect or report the intrusion, according to the lawsuit.
The man who breached the fence had been placed by the State of Colorado in a court-ordered outpatient program at an Aurora facility operated by Oakwood Behavioral Health / Hazelbrook — but a subsequent audit listed in the lawsuit found 16 violations at the facility, including no recordkeeping for court-ordered medications.
"There's private parties who were responsible for watching the individual who got over the fence and making sure that he complied with court-ordered requirements for medications and monitoring, and they, unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they did a great job of that," McBryant said.
City responds, attorneys call for change
In a statement, a Denver City Attorney's Office spokesperson told Denver7: "This incident was terrible and tragic, but it is not one that the city bears legal responsibility for. Our thoughts remain with the victim, his family, and all impacted during this event."
The attorneys described the event as a major security warning for Denver International Airport and other airports.
"I would hope that this is a very big wake-up call to make DIA and the other entities that we've named accountable for their actions, and to put forward the necessary precautions and the necessary measures so that an event like this is not repeated by another individual," LoRusso said.
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