AP PhotoThe blame game continues in the fiery Learjet crash that killed four people and left Travis Barker and DJ AM seriously injured.
This time around it's the owner and operator of the charter who, in a new $12 million lawsuit, is pointing fingers at South Carolina's Columbia Metropolitan Airport, the plane's namesake manufacturer and Goodyear Tires.
Among the suit's core allegations: Learjet built a faulty plane, notably its brake system; airport officials didn't keep the runway in good working condiition; and the tires, which reportedly blew out during the aborted takeoff, were poorly made.
All this led to a "sudden, catastrophic and calamitous failure" that killed the pilot, copilot and two friends of the Blink-182 drummer and the celeb spinner, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, according to court documents obtained by E! News.
The charter's owner, Inter Travel & Services Inc., and operator, Global Exec Aviation Inc., initially filed the lawsuit in South Carolina's Court of Common Pleas. But it has since been moved to the U.S. District Court in Columbia.
The airport has since filed an extensive brief, denying the allegations frequently on jurisdictional grounds, defending its performance and seeking the suit's dismissal.
Goodyear spokesman Ed Markey said in a statement Friday that the lawsuit was premature, considering the National Transportation Safety Board was still probing the accident.
"While the tires may have been involved, it is still too early to speculate on a cause," he said. "The performance of a tire is dependent upon how the tire was used, if it was properly maintained and whether it was damaged before the accident. We continue to cooperate with the NTSB investigation."
A rep for Learjet and parent company Bombardier was unavailable for immediate comment.
However, in a response to a separate negiligence suit filed against the company in November by Barker, Learjet placed the blame squarely on the flight's operators for failing "to properly maintain and service the aircraft" and claimed the plane had no defects.
Barker and Thelma Martin Still, mother of the drummer's bodyguard, Charles Still, who died in the crash, have suits seeking unspecified damages pending against Learjet, Goodyear, Global Exec Aviation and Clay Lacy Aviation, which booked them on the flight.
DJ AM and the widow of Barker's assistant, Christ Baker, meanwhile have filed their own negligent claims against the same companies.