Boeing Company Stipulates to Liability in Crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 Lawsuit: Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler Is One of the Lead Law Firms Representing Victims' Families.

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 2003

The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) stipulated today in San Francisco Federal Court that it will not contest liability of its design of the MD-83 airplane. The MD-83 was involved in the January 31, 2000 Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed near Point Mugu, CA, taking the lives of all 83 passengers and five crew members. Trial is expected to begin July 7, 2003 in the "Air Crash Off Point Mugu, California," MDL Docket No. 00-1343 CRB.

Brian Panish, one of the lead trial attorneys representing victim's families in the case, noted: "This is believed to be the first time that a major aircraft manufacturer has declared that it would not contest liability in a mass air disaster case. It is a victory for the Plaintiffs because the Boeing Company will now be forced to compensate the families of the victims for their tragic loss."

Added Panish: "But, Boeing continues to try to hide the truth about the defective design of the MD-83 from the public by refusing to release potentially damning internal documents. The Plaintiffs will continue to fight to insure that those documents are released to the public to educate them about just how dangerous and unsafe the MD-83 really is."

Mr. Panish's firm, Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, LLP (www.gbpwlaw.com), serves on both the Plaintiffs' Administrative and Steering Committees for the case. He and Kevin Boyle represent the family of Gabriela Chavez Garcia de Estrada, the family of Joseph and Linda Knight, and the family of Morris, Thelma and Sheryl Thompson. Morris Thompson was a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior during President Nixon's administration, and was a Cabinet-level officer in Alaska Governor Walter Hickel's first administration.