DJ AM Seeks Big Bucks For Crash

That’s how much the DJ – real name Adam Goldstein – is seeking for the jet crash that killed four people and left him and blink-182 drummer Travis Barker severely injured last September.

The plan had called for Barker and Goldstein to jet back to Los Angeles on a private Learjet after performing at a music festival in South Carolina. The plane skidded on the runway during take-off, then crashed, killing both pilots (Sarah Lemmon and James Bland), Barker’s assistant (Chris Baker), and the musician’s bodyguard (Charles Monroe Stills Jr.).

A blown tire is suspected to have caused the crash.

Goldstein actually sued for negligence and breach of contract in December, but did not specify how much money he hoped to obtain in damages.

Now Goldstein is seeking $20 million and is suing Learjet and several other companies. Broken down, Goldstein wants $10 million for medical expenses, lost earnings, profits and economic damages, and another $10 million for non-economic losses, such as mental and physical pain.

Goldstein’s lawsuit is not the first resulting from the crash. Barker filed papers last November, suing the plane’s owners, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and an airplane maintenance company. Stills’ mother, Thelma Martin Stills, joined Barker in the lawsuit.

Otilia Villar Baker, wife of Barker’s assistant, filed suit against the pilots’ families in December, alleging negligence and wrongful death.

A cockpit voice recorder revealed that crewmembers thought a tire blew and tried to abort the takeoff. The Learjet shot off the end of the runway, ripped through a fence and crossed a highway before coming to rest, engulfed in flames.

A video of the crash scene shot from a police car shows an inferno next to the road, with screams ringing out above the din of sirens of ambulances and fire trucks. A witness said the screaming voice belonged to Barker, who was trembling and seemed to be in intense pain as he sat on the sidewalk, waiting for medical help to arrive.