UNIVERSITY CITY, Calif., July 29 (UPI) -- A California man who lost his family when a Marine Corps jet crashed into their home is suing Boeing Co. and the government for negligence, his lawyers said.
Don Yoon, of University City, lost his wife, two baby daughters and his mother-in-law in the Dec. 8, 2008, crash, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wednesday.
The lawsuit alleges the U.S. government violated many of its own rules for operating and maintaining the Boeing F/A-18D Hornet airplane and that there were defects in the fuel system designed and manufactured by Boeing, court records showed.
Yoon's wife, Youngmi Lee Yoon, 36; his daughters Grace Yoon, 15 months, and newborn Rachel Yoon; and his mother-in-law, Seokim Kim, 59, were "burned alive and perished" when a "disabled, out of control" jet crashed into the home, the Union-Tribune reported.
The complaint said the pilot was a "student pilot" who ejected on a flight path "known to the United States to be a public safety hazard for approximately 30 years," the newspaper said.
In the spring, the Navy denied Yoon's administrative claims for wrongful death, the newspaper reported.
The crash that occurred because the plane's engines died destroyed two homes and damaged two others, the newspaper said.
A March 2009 Marine Corps investigation concluded the pilot and ground crews didn't obey emergency landing rules and that the plane should have been taken out of service when mechanics found a fuel problem.
