At least 5 more lawsuits filed against Delta Airlines after harrowing crash at Pearson

An aircraft from Delta Airlines sits upside down on the tarmac at Toronto Pearson International airport on Monday February 17, 2024. Teresa Barbieri/The Canadian Press

Delta Airlines is denying that they’re entirely to blame for the harrowing Flight 4819 crash landing at Pearson’s International Airport in February.

CTV News has learned that at least five new lawsuits were filed by passengers this week against Delta Airlines Inc. and the company’s regional carrier Endeavor Air.

The most recent lawsuits, filed on June 2 and 3, share similar language.

They claim the airline failed “to observe the most fundamental procedures for a landing approach into YYZ, failing to appropriately monitor flight conditions on approach, and failing to communicate and react in the cockpit to those flight conditions.”

They also claim that “the Delta Crash occurred due to the gross negligence and recklessness of the Delta and/or Endeavor flight crew.”

Eighty people were on board the Bombardier CRJ-900 passenger plane as it rolled and skidded across the runway on its roof at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Feb. 17, 2025.

McGill University aviation management lecturer John Gradek still marvels that no one was killed.

“A landing, 200 kilometres an hour, flipped on its roof and did a full 180, fuel spilling out of the airplane and everyone got out of the plane in 90 seconds – amazing,” recalled Gradek.

Videos of the chaos inside the cabin spread quickly on social media. Twenty-one passengers and crew were injured. A preliminary report released by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) found a warning system on the plane sent an alert “indicating a high rate of descent” less than three seconds before the fiery crash landing.

Multiple passengers, including Canadians, have filed their civil cases with U.S. courts for the districts of Minnesota, Georgia and Texas.

In response to one of the lawsuits, lawyers representing Delta issued a court filing on May 30 that states that the airline “denies all allegations” made by a passenger who claims he “suffered significant injuries to his head, neck, back, knees and face...”

Gradek says the safety board has its work cut out for it with so many questions hanging over the incident. The TSB has said it could take a total of 600 days to complete their report, which means it could take until October 2026 until their findings are made public.

“Who was at fault? … What type of deficiencies do we have in the operating practices that led to this type of behaviour by the flight crew? Those things have not been defined yet and I expect that to be part of the Transportation Safety boards final report” adds Gradek.

Delta declined CTV News’ request for comment, though the airline company did say that they fully support the TSB’s ongoing investigation.