AP PhotoLearjet is looking to get up, up and away from blame in the Sept. 19 plane crash that critically injured Travis Barker and DJ AM and killed four others. The company is claiming that the flight operators were really responsible for the tragedy.
"Learjet alleges that any and all conditions [of the aircraft], if any there were, were solely a result of the failure to properly maintain and service the aircraft," the company says in court papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last Friday and obtained by E! News.
Learjet was named in negligence lawsuits filed last November by Barker, who spent weeks in a hospital, and Thelma Martin Still, the mother of Barker's 25-year-old bodyguard Charles Still, who died in the crash.
In its filing, Learjet claims that the damages "allegedly sustained" by the plaintiffs "were either excessive, exaggerated, unreasonable, speculative, inflated or otherwise unnecessary and/or unrelated to the alleged incident."
According to the company, the downed aircraft "did not contain a dangerous or defective condition, which in any manner may have contributed to [Barker and Still's] alleged injuries."
In its defense, Learjet says that any malfunction was due to a possible modification, unsanctioned use of the plane or simple failure to adequately inspect the aircraft, saying that the "damages, if any, may have been caused by misuse."
Should the case proceed, the company also requests a jury trial.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash and has yet to release any findings regarding the cause.
While the Learjet response is only to Barker and Still's suits, DJ AM and the widow of Barker's assistant Chris Baker, also killed on the plane, have filed separate negligence suits as a result of the tragedy.
Barker and Still are seeking unspecified damages in their suits. In addition to Learjet, they both named charter companies Clay Lacy Aviation and Global Exec Aviation, Inter Travel and Services and Goodyear Tire and Rubber in their complaints.