Replies to post #57 on Alabama Aircraft Industries Inc (AAIIQ)

[Paullee]

question 1, do you know anyone who died on a 737 max,
or did you ever have a trip cancelled on a 737 max :)

[Paullee]

kinda sounds like Sgt Shultz

I did nothing wrong, I did nothing wrong

Boeing Fights Aircraft Co.'s Sanctions Bid Over Documents
By Emma Cueto

Law360 (February 4, 2020, 4:58 PM EST) -- Boeing has hit back against a bid for sanctions in a suit that accuses it of cutting a now-defunct aircraft maintenance company out of a $1.3 billion U.S. Air Force deal, saying Monday that it had been fully forthcoming during discovery.

One week before trial is set to begin, Boeing told the court that it had disclosed all the requested information to Alabama Aircraft Industries and that it had always been clear that some of the documents it produced had also been handed over in response to previous requests.

“Throughout this litigation, when AAI has asked for information, Boeing has provided it,” the Monday response said. “Boeing has also made clear throughout that it has produced the same sequestered documents at issue here both in response to early requests for production and again in a sequential bates numbered production, as a courtesy to AAI.”

Boeing also argued that the documents in question were produced in 2014, meaning AAI could have raised the issue years ago instead of waiting until the eve of trial.

“Boeing did nothing wrong in discovery, and its refusal to enter into an eleventh-hour stipulation about documents produced half a decade ago does not turn this dispute into an emergency,” Boeing wrote. “Simply put, there is no emergency here, and no basis for sanctions.”

AAI launched its legal battle in 2011, shortly after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, alleging that Boeing was directly responsible for its bankruptcy because it stole trade secrets and pulled strings with corrupt U.S. Air Force officials to cut AAI out of the $1.3 billion plane-servicing contract.

Boeing canceled their agreement to jointly bid on the contract for maintenance of the Air Force’s KC-135 fleet after the military branch reduced the anticipated scope of the project, AAI said. The companies ended up bidding separately, and Boeing won the contract in May 2008, even though AAI's submission was about $15 million lower, according to the complaint.

AAI previously asked the court to sanction Boeing in July 2016, alleging that there was solid evidence Boeing’s chief financial officer at the time instructed staff to delete certain emails related to Pemco even after written directions were issued by Boeing to collect and send such information to its law department for preservation, AAI claimed.

Boeing argued in response to that sanctions bid that AAI had failed to establish that Boeing had a duty to preserve documents during those years, as it had no reason to anticipate litigation from the bankrupt company. In addition, Boeing said, AAI had no proof that a single document was missing that is crucial to the case.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor found in March 2017 that Boeing employees did destroy documents and said he would allow a jury to assume the information deleted could have hurt Boeing's case.

Counsel for the parties did not respond Tuesday for comment.

AAI is represented by J. Michael Rediker, Joshua D. Lerner, R. Scott Williams, Peter J. Tepley, Meredith Jowers Lees and Rebecca A. Beers of Rumberger Kirk & Caldwell PC.

Boeing is represented by R. Thomas Warburton and J. Thomas Richie of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP; and Craig S. Primis, Erin C. Johnston, Tia Trout-Perez and Alexia Brancato of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

The case is Alabama Aircraft Industries Inc. et al. v. Boeing Co. et al., case number 2:11-cv-03577, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

--Additional reporting by Sarah Martinson, Daniel Wilson, Natalie Olivo, Bonnie Eslinger, Christopher Crosby and Ryan Boysen. Editing by Peter Rozovsky.