Asiana won't sue California TV station over offensive, fake names

SAN FRANCISCO, July 17 (UPI) -- Asiana Airlines said it won't sue a California TV station for allegedly harming its reputation by reporting offensive names as pilots on an ill-fated flight.

The Seoul-based airline said Wednesday it wouldn't file a suit after KTVU-TV, Oakland, offered an official apology for reporting the offensive names as the pilots of Flight 214, which crash-landed on a San Francisco International Airport runway July 6, CNN reported.

Three people died and more than 180 were injured.

Meanwhile, a law firm representing more than 80 passengers aboard Asiana Flight 214 when it crash-landed in San Francisco said it has started taking steps toward a lawsuit against the airline and Boeing Co., the plane's manufacturer.

The airlines originally said it was considering legal action against KTVU and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, because an NTSB intern confirmed the bogus names that sound phonetically like "Something Wrong" and "We Too Low." Earlier this week, Asiana officials said they wouldn't pursue legal action against the NTSB, but was still examining its options concerning KTVU.

It was not immediately clear who produced the fake names, but the NTSB said it was not the intern.

Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center and the dean of the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University, told CNN it was difficult to think a defamation suit would prevail.

"Everyone who heard this understood it was a prank. And as ludicrous as the report was, at least the news station made a call to try to check," he said. "Where is the real damage? Yes, it was tasteless and undoubtedly it caused some short-term emotional distress, but nothing that rises to the level of litigation."

In Chicago, Ribbeck Law Chartered filed a "petition for discovery" Monday against Illinois-based Boeing, asking the Cook County Circuit Court to order the manufacturer to release information on the design and parts suppliers of the Boeing 777 aircraft, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Attorneys raised the possibility that the plane's auto-throttle malfunctioned. They also said seat belts and evacuation slides that inflated inward may have contributed to passengers' injuries.

Attorney Monica Kelly said a lawsuit against Asiana, Boeing and other parts manufacturers would be filed soon. She said her firm represented 83 of the flight's passengers.