Travis Barker is just one of two survivors of a learjet plane crash this September in which four people, the pilot, co-pilot, Barker’s assistant and his bodyguard, perished. Barker filed a lawsuit last week alleging that the plane was not airworthy and that the pilot should not have aborted the takeoff after the tires blew on the plane. He is suing the owners of the plane, Goodyear, and the maintenance company responsible for the plane.
Barker spoke to E! Online at an event, and he explained his reasoning for suing:
“I wouldn’t have been in the state I was in if I wasn’t in the crash,” said Barker, who spoke Sunday while at the Miss California USA event with Shanna Moakler. “I wouldn’t have third-degree burns all over my body or be prohibited to do certain things. I can’t go swimming. I can’t do some of the things that normal people can do. I didn’t ask for that to happen.”
DJ AM, who is also continuing his recovery from the Sept. 19 incident, is not part of the lawsuit. Said Barker: “I can’t speak for him—I think everyone just has different attorneys.” The two are currently rehearsing for a New Year’s Eve gig at the Paramount lot in Hollywood.
The drummer says he doesn’t know if he’ll win his lawsuit.“I don’t know. I just think positive. I mean, I think so—if something goes wrong that’s not supposed to go wrong or you fall victim of it, I think you should be compensated.”
He says he’s not just speaking for himself, either. “I lost two friends in the accident. Nothing can bring them back or what I lost in the accident.”
[From E! Online]
A lot of people would disagree with Barker and say that accidents happen, but many sympathize with him and think that he absolutely has the right to sue. He was badly burned and lost friends. Maybe he should focus more on the fact that he believes it was a preventable accident, and not on his pain and suffering. Many are going to point out that he’s a millionaire and doesn’t need the money from this lawsuit.
Barker is shown at an event on 2/13/08. Credit: PRPhotos
“I can’t go swimming. I can’t do some of the things that normal people can do.”
I. Am. Speechless.
People are dead. He hasn’t lost a limb or anything that impedes a major life function and the first thing he can come up with is justifying a lawsuit because he can’t go swimming? And “I”, “I”, “I”; what “he” lost in the accident.
One just has to look at him to know he’s an overgrown child, or at least dresses like one, but this immaturity and selfishness is mind-boggling.
I always thought he was a clown but man, I hate this dude so much now.
baho –
totally agree..
Baho: Agreed. He’s nauseating.
This is ridiculous..”I cant go swimming..” well, that’s the least of you problem dude. How about the pilot’s family who couldnt see her ever again?
how selfish can this guy be? i hope dj am has the sense not to sue them too.
i never understood people that sue in situations like this, is money going to make you able to go swimming, travis? so stupid. i feel bad for him but hope he loses.
But doesn’t him winning a compensation lawsuit open the way for the other victims or relatives of the victims to be compensated?
I assumed that was at least part of why he was doing it. Maybe I’m wrong.
I work for an attorney and I can tell you that this is more than just what he has lost (namely not being able to go swimming). This lawsuit will hold people accountable for their actions and mistakes. He is completely justified in filing this lawsuit and he is suing the right people. He is right that the flight should have never happened, the pilot should have been doing the proper checks before taking flight. His co-pilot should have been backing up the piolot’s checks to make sure the flight was safe. The airline company should have kept better tires on their plane. This is how the legal system works, if someone screws up and someone else gets hurt then someone has to pay for it. Welcome to America.
And as a side note, stop thinking about this as something bad because he doesn’t need more money. Think if this was your brother, or your son, or your nephew. If your family member had 3rd degree burns on their body and was in a hospital for days and days because of a very bad plane accident, don’t you think you would feel different. That your son, nephew, brother should be compensated for all of the terrible things he had to endure because of someone else’s carelessness?
Daily Reader: Yes, but he didn’t say “I am suing so that this won’t ever happen to anyone else.” He can’t go swimming? someone get the guy a baby pool.
My guess is that there are other things he cannot do. He leaves it pretty open ended. Perhaps that is the only thing he feels comfortable revealing he cannot do. I’m sure with where the burns were located – there are other things he is unable to do for at least the time being.
tHave you ever been made ill by the actions of another? you with the quick judgment. Give me a break, He has every right to sue . You only heard a portion of what is wrong with him. If the pilots incompetence caused this along with the company that owns the aircraft it is his god given right. I also think he could care less about how you feel about him. i know that might come as a shock to your judgmental character.
Ass
Accidents happen. Doesn’t mean he should be compensated. Was there a ruling that the crash happened due to negligence?
Yes, there are times and situations where it is justified to sue to send a message but come on, Goodyear? Putting that one on the list is reaching!
Do people honestly think that we don’t all eventually pay when people go overboard with suing? Like everything else there is a trickle down effect. Who do you think pays the additional costs that eventually come out of companies that get sued. Do you honestly think that they suck it up and move on? Doubtful. And don’t give me the crap that they have insurance to cover this sort of thing – yes, most companies have insurance for this but it NEVER covers the entire amount.
It eventually comes out of the consumers pockets in the form of higher pricing.
Wow.
From his own mouth: “…if something goes wrong that’s not supposed to go wrong and you fall victim of it, I think you should be compensated.”
Flying in a plane is risky. We should assume some of that risk when we board a plane. He sees himself as a victim — of what? If there were some overt action that increased his personal risk in boarding a plane, ie the pilot was drunk, ok, maybe I could see shifting some of the blame for the accident on her but he had a choice. He could have driven back to his home. He wanted to get home quickly and so he chose a riskier form of transportation.
Plane crashes happen. We all know this and we still fly. I’m not saying there weren’t other circumstances, just that if it was one of those things that happen, well, he was just unlucky.
There is no sense in “holding people accountable” because mistakes happen. Reasonable people make them and if we “hold people accountable” for all of their mistakes, who will do riskier jobs, like be a doctor, because if you make a mistake, even if it’s just a mistake, you’ll be “held accountable”.
How many mistakes have we all made that we should have been “held accountable” for? That’s just faulty reasoning.
I’m not saying that people who are malicious or who do things that a reasonable person in their field wouldn’t do shouldn’t be “held accountable” just that simple, ordinary mistakes happen and sometimes they are just a mistake.
An example: have you ever driven somewhere and had something shift in your car, maybe your purse falls on the floor or your child starts crying, and you look away, for just a second. What if something happened? You are a reasonable person, driving, like you do every day, but you made a mistake. Perhaps it was reflex to look and you didn’t mean to take your eyes off the road. If something happened, would you want to be “held accountable” for your mistake or would you want someone to empathize and agree that mistakes happen.
Folks, I really hate when people put words in my mouth. I didn’t say he did not have the right to sue. What I said, essentially, is that he’s an insensitive pr!ck and his head is up his ass.
There’s a difference between that and the right to sue.
As for “welcome to America”: the U.S. is the most litigious country in the world. Suing a dead pilot is pretty much the epitome of the worst example of that.
Furthermore, were Barker so aggrieved, he’d be suing for a frick of a lot more than 25G’s.
I am amazed, in this litigious society, that so many of you think he should just shrug it off. He’s not saying he should be made wealthy (more wealthy), he’s saying “compensated”. I agree that if you are an innocent victim, you have the right for those who caused your problems to be forced to compensate you.
When we fly somewhere we assume some risk. However, tires are not supposed to blow out, and the pilot of the plane shouldn’t continue trying to fly it after they do.
I feel strongly about this at the moment because my son’s car was totaled by a girl who ran a stop sign and hit him and then left the scene. Later she was brought back by her mother, but their insurance has only offered 1/4 of the blue book value of the car in full settlement – nothing for medical, pain and suffering, lost wages, or rental cars. So we’ve been forced into litigation to try to get what we deserve, which is to be made whole after enduring something that was not your fault in any way.
Barker deserves compensation for his injuries. That said, it would be really nice if he’d donate any compensation to charity.
if he wins maybe he will donate the money to some sort of burn unit or something. but probably not.
Agree, Daily Reader and Syko. Not sure if this was said before, but this could be part of a larger legal strategy to assign blame in a smaller case so that the families of the dead can file for wrongful death.
I completely agree with those above. If someone is going to sue, it shouldn’t be barker, rather it should be the families of those lost…or at least make it a class action suit or a group effort…
Agree with Syko. Suing for compensation is to help make you whole. If you endure tens or hundreeds of thousands of dollars in medical bills from an accident…should you get the medical bills that aren’t covered or should the person who caused the accident? Accidents ARE accidents, but that doesn’t mean someone isn’t legally responsible.
@Kaiser: Can’t they file for wrongful death regardless of what Barker does? Would a guilty finding in Barker’s suit be admissible in the other plaintiffs’ cases? Could they not file suit collectively? I’m out of my depth here.
It’s horrible what happened to him, no question. But suing will not make it any better. Money won’t cure your problems.
If Goodyear, plane owners, and maintenance types weren’t sued for this sort of plane accident, they wouldn’t have much incentive to be careful about accidents like this in the future.
Sorry to say, but tort cases are really the only thing that make auto/plane companies take notice of injuries… when it hits those responsible in the pocketbook.
@Baho – I’m not any kind of legal scholar either, but I was just thinking that Barker, with his money, could afford the best lawyers and get the ball rolling on what could be a long court case or series of court cases, depending on the extent of the negligence. And yes, it probably would be easier if everybody sued together, but maybe for the other families, Barker’s the canary in the coal mine, so to speak.
Woah, woah, woah wait a minute. This post just blew right over the fact that he spoke Sunday while at the Miss California USA event with Shanna Moakler.
THAT’s what I wanna know about!!!
My unsolicited two cents: I like him and I love him and Shana together.
BUUUUUUT… he’s being super-insentive. Especially where he says stuff about the pilot in the lawsuit. I mean, hello. The pilot’s family is suffering too. Way to add salt to the wounds. “Hey, not only is your family member dead, but they totally handled the situation wrong!!” I mean, if any of the accidents or deaths were intentional, I’d be all about suing — but it wasn’t intentional, hence the word “accident.” I highly doubt the pilots would’ve compromised their own safety intentionally, and they’re the ones who died. He should be thankful he came out with his life.
Let’s see… not being able to swim, or being dead… hmmm, I pick… not being able to swim.
I would like to state one point that most people in this comment section seem to be missing…The pilot did not do a safety check and his co-pilot did not check it twice and that is why this wreck happened. This lawsuit will hold precedence for when this happens again.
And to Lizbeth…This comment…”An example: have you ever driven somewhere and had something shift in your car, maybe your purse falls on the floor or your child starts crying, and you look away, for just a second. What if something happened?…If something happened, would you want to be “held accountable” for your mistake or would you want someone to empathize and agree that mistakes happen.”
If a person was put into a burn unit and had 3rd degree burns all over his body because my purse fell on the floor and I caused a car wreck, you’re damn right I should be held accountable. It wasn’t his fault that I was driving carelessly. I should have to pay every hospital bill, I should pay for lost wages, I should pay to compensate him for his pain and suffering, and I should have to pay for his car.
I realize that I have a different view point because I work for an attorney who helps people like Travis Barker who were injured because someone else was careless. But when you see the pain that some people have to go through because someone else was careless, you do have a much different view point and it is much easier to see why there are so many lawsuits. The bottom line is that the people that he is suing did not do their job and it resulted in people being dead or injured.
All that said, I have to agree that suing Goodyear is reaching a bit far, but experience tells me there was probably a reason behind that and they will get dismissed from the case.
Good thing this story isn’t a repeat.
Good thing this story isn’t a repeat.
Good thing this story isn’t a repeat.
Good thing this story isn’t a repeat.
Good thing this story isn’t a repeat.
Good thing this story isn’t a repeat.
Daily Reader, I would suspect Goodyear is included because they apparently manufactured the tires that blew. They’ll have to prove the tires are defective, but it’s less work to sue everyone and then dismiss people than it is to amend the complaint and add people later. (I work as a legal assistant also).
As for the dead pilot, they have to name him. There should be insurance to cover his responsibility in the matter.
I don’t think this is so much about money as it’s about accountability. And you have to make people accountable for their actions, or else you have everyone slacking on the job and a lot more innocent people are hurt and killed as a result of the sloppiness.
Uh-oh, Syko, you just said the magic words that are going to get people jumping down your throat…”held accountable.” You’re gonna have to learn your lesson the hard way like me. LOL
I think that Travis has every right to sue. What bewilders me is how a loser like this became a millionaire.
Suing for mechanical failure is one thing. Suing a deceased individual for negligence and who isn’t here to have her day in court is not. I think it’s repugnant. Why doesn’t he continue on and sue the flight school that trained her?
But that’s okay Travis, I’m sure she learned her lesson so go ahead and point it out anyway if it makes your weasel heart feel any better.
Daily Reader you’re right. IF someone screws up THEN the victims need to be compensated. However, the mere occurrence of a disaster does not prove that somebody screwed up. Shit happens!
Well, Rosanna, if you were in the hospital for days on end with very painful burns because some Kamikaze pilot didn’t feel like checking the tires on a flight, then you go ahead and say shit happens. I say, pay up.
I know I’m late but I’d like to add my two cents.
When I was fifteen, a surgeon made a mistake during a ROUTINE bunion surgery on my foot. As a result I am permanently disabled and will never be able to walk the same again.
I’ve been through 8 surgeries and three years of hell and am going in for surgery number nine with surgeon number 4 in two weeks. I am only eighteen and my entire life has been destroyed. It is something I cannot escape. I couldn’t sit here long enough to list all of the things in my life that have been ripped away from me because of one persons mistake. I hurt every single day but I have to get on with my life and with every break down I have because I can’t summon the energy to even move, I think of the man that did this to me.
I’m sure Travis knew he’d be getting the backlash he is getting because of this lawsuit. The whole litigation process is traumatic and I am deeply sympathetic to his situation because I am going through the same.
Look, I know that pilot is dead and that is tragic and I am so sorry for that. But when mistakes happen because of an act of carelessness over something she probably did a thousand times before, people DO need to be held accountable. I feel his pain and the money he already has has absolutely no bearing on how he should be allowed to feel and what actions he needs to take. This isn’t about money.
Anyway sorry so long. Just sharing.
Last time I checked there was a difference between being a victim and being a survivor.
@A.J. – Exactly.
to all of the insensitive a**holes-STFU!!! and to all of the JA pity party invitees{asmost of you are on this site} you’re missing a sensitivity chip and you need to STFU!!! not one of knows the extent of this mans physical injuries. remember his lower body sustained third degree burns. as a healthcare worker that alone is painful enough. what is most evident here is everyone’s totally missing the emotinal injury that this man experienced-thinking your’e going to burn to death as you watch and hear other people burn to death. i don’t what his physical injuries are and if he can recover from them fully, but the emotional scarring will last him his whole life and he may not ever recover from them. cut him some slack and show him some sensitivity. and furthermore, regarding the lawsuit-he should sue. when i get on a plane, my expectation is that the plane was in proper working order and in good repair and that the pilot is a knowledgable one. that’s why flying is safer than driving out there on the roads. something went wrong and someone dropped the ball and lives were lost. while i realize we all make mistakes and noone wishes death upon others, we still have to be accountable for our mistakes. as a healthcare worker, my mistake could cost a person their life-so i take accountability seriously. some people have jobs that make them accountable for people’s lives-a pilot is one of them. this cannot be equated to short changing someone at the grocery store. both are mistakes but have very different consequences.
I wouldn’t sue in this case because I was aware that planes sometimes crash (I read about it in “No Fucking Shit Digest”) and that’s a risk you take when flying, but Travis can’t go swimming for a few months, and so obviously the Goodyear tire company needs to pay up. Not just because they’re the only ones involved with any real money, but because they didn’t invent enchanted tires filled with GummiBeary juice so the plane could just bounce around instead of crashing. You won’t get away with this Goodyear!!!
I agree with J87. Just look at this guy – he’s a giant 10-year-old with hideously scribbled skin (which incidentally will fuzz out in about ten years and look even stupider) and he’s even moronified his freaking teeth too.
How in hell is a lot of money going to compensate this douche for whatever it is he’s supposedly lost? I assume he’ll be swimming or whatever just as soon as his skin heals. How is money going to speed that up or take away his fear of flying, or the sounds of his friends dying? Money is not going to change that and he can afford the damn hospital bills. He’s suing the estate of the dead pilot? I sure hope not because that would be even worse than his insensitive rant. 😡
Too many people automatically think suing is the thing to do, which is twisted. I’m sick and tired of people waiting for their lucky big paycheck. If you think he’s not just doing this to make money you’re extremely naive. Speaks volumes about the sense of entitlement people in the US have. And yes, I work with lawyers and I live in America. The lawyers I work with aim to keep things out of court, which is the way it ought to be.
OK – attack the victim often people? He didn’t die, but only because he was lucky. Probably he was sitting at the back of the plane. It is his right to sue because he was seriously injured. Maybe he said he can’t go swimming because he has a family and doesn’t want to get into the real, personal way his life and his family’s life has been changed because of this event. Someone, paid by Barker, who owns a plane had staff to make sure the plane was safe and it wasn’t and lives were lost/changed forever. HE paid for something he didn’t get, a safe flight. I’d like to question how any of us would react in this situation. I’d sue! Who the heck wouldn’t? Seriously, step back and relax. He may annoy you, personally, but you can’t really argue his actions. AT. ALL.
I disagree, sorry. I certainly can disagree, at. all.
How do we know he even paid for that flight? He probably was paid for his gig and that included transportation.
And money is not going to help him be safer, and his skin will heal, and if he needs help from his millions of bucks he can get payment for his medical. You think the other folk in that plane don’t have a hell of a lot more problems to deal with than he does?? hell no.
Shit happens. 🙁
I think the point that the “shit happens” crowd is missing is that this shit didn’t have to happen.
If you get on a plane and a pilot doesn’t do safety checks, that is pure negligence. That is not “shit happening”. That is knowingly endangering the lives of your passengers.
A tree falling on your car is “shit happening”. A pilot skipping one of the most important parts of their jobs while they have passengers depending on him/her? That is negligence and reckless endangerment.
Its no different than Nick Hogan recklessly endangering the life of his friend by drinking and drag racing. Every person on this board would hit the roof if his response had been well “shit happens” (which come to think of it is exactly what happened).
And you know exactly what happened, do you? Please.
Just stop and think of the other folks in that crash. Did they and their families lose much more than this guy, who’s crowing to the news about his singular terrible plight? He’s sure not honoring them in any way with this crap.
Wonder what those people think of him now. It is utterly disrespectful of him to even talk publicly about all this. And it also reveals him to be nothing less than a big fat OPPPORTUNIST looking to make money. Shameful!
I know exactly as much as you do. That a pilot skipped a basic safety check which makes it much more than a case of “shit happens”. And just like you, I don’t know whether the other families are planning to file suit. What we both know is that someone you obviously dislike and someone I never heard of is filing suit first.
And the most shameful thing is that people died and were seriously injured when it could have been avoided by following the appropriate protocol.
Right, I agree. Except this has nothing to do with my opinion of him. All snark aside, I just don’t think he should get more than his medical. It’d be a slap in the face to the other people involved. At best, in his situation, it’s insensitive to even discuss such a thing to the media in light of the deaths involved.
As for the other grieving families – yes, they have their own fish to fry, which will probably include filing suit, and they are a lot more substantial than his particular situation of enriching himself. Their lives are changed forever and earners are no longer with us – those families should be compensated.