City claims more than $2.5 million in losses from Northeast Philly plane crash

Ryan W. Briggs, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 28, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — The January fatal crash of a medical jet in Northeast Philadelphia has cost taxpayers millions of dollars, the city states in a new court filing.

In a Wednesday response to an insurance provider's complaint filed in relation to the crash, city attorneys said they are seeking claims for property damage and personnel costs totaling "no less than $2,555,897.58."

City Solicitor Renee Garcia declined to give a detailed breakdown of these costs — or say if this sum was expected to rise.

"We will submit a complete and full breakdown of our costs and our supporting documents to the court in due time," she said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "That accounting will include costs inclusive of emergency services personnel and equipment, infrastructure repairs, and contracted services."

A Learjet 55 operated by the Mexican medical airline Med Jets, S.A. De C.V. — which does business as Jet Rescue Air Ambulance — crashed on Jan. 31 shortly after takeoff from Northeast Philadelphia Airport.

The small jet was carrying six occupants, including Valentina Guzmán Murillo, 11, and her mother, who were on their way home to Mexico following Valentina's treatment at Shriners Children's Philadelphia for a medical condition.

The patients, pilots, medics, and a motorist on the ground were killed when the plane crashed nose-first along Cottman Avenue. A second person in a car later died of her injuries. Burning fuel and debris caused extensive damage to nearby properties in the densely populated neighborhood.

The Mexico-based company filed a complaint in federal court in Philadelphia last month announcing that claims from potentially hundreds of next of kin, residents, and nearby business owners would more than exhaust its $10 million insurance policy.

This insurance case, which is ongoing, seeks to consolidate the claims into a single case under the purview of a federal judge, who would divvy up the funds.

Under the law, all parties have equal standing, said Shanin Specter, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based firm Kline & Specter, which specializes in personal injury cases.

"Nobody has a priority," he said. "All those people are unsecured creditors and they're at equal position with respect to their claims."

Specter said the insurance carrier appears prepared to pay its coverage responsibility and leave it up to the courts to decide how that money is distributed. "It looks like everybody's getting, as they say, pennies on the dollar."

Federal transportation safety officials, meanwhile, are still investigating the cause of the crash.

In a March preliminary report, officials from the National Transportation Safety Board announced that the jet's flight recorder likely had not worked for years, frustrating investigators.