Lawyers whose default response to press queries is “no comment” might want to reconsider that strategy. As Atlanta lawyer Jonathan Johnson can testify, sometimes a willingness to weigh in on an issue can pay off with unforeseen business. In the days following an engine failure on a Southwest Airlines flight that spewed debris, breaking a window and killing a passenger, media outlets across the country swung into action. Stories detailing the life and death of the passenger, Jennifer Riordan, and interviews with the shellshocked survivors of the flight abounded, and reporters sought out experts on aviation, engineering and—in a natural progression—the law. Among those experts was Johnson, who was tapped by USA Today to weigh in on the legal ramifications of the disastrous flight. “I've been doing aviation work for 25 years, and I got a call from USA Today for an interview,” said Johnson. “At least some of these clients found me through that channel." “I've spoken to a couple of other passengers who may join us,” Johnson said. On Wednesday, Johnson filed suit against Southwest, Boeing Co. and three companies involved in making the engine that broke apart on behalf of eight passengers and one of their spouses, asserting claims that include negligence, product liability and loss of consortium. The plaintiffs are from Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico. The complaint was filed in New York County Supreme Court by Johnson and his local co-counsel, White Plains solo Jacqueline James. The incident happened April 17 when the Boeing 737 was about 20 minutes out of LaGuardia Airport carrying 149 passengers on its way to Dallas. The left engine failed, spewing shrapnel that shattered a cabin window and damaged the fuselage. The cabin instantly lost pressure, and passenger Riordan, 43, was sucked halfway out the window before two other passengers dragged her back into the plane. The pilot managed to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia. Johnson's clients include a mother and two daughters from Texas and their father, who was not aboard but is suing for loss of consortium; another man from Texas; a couple returning to Louisiana after celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in New York; and a young couple from New Mexico returning from a romantic getaway. Johnson said his clients and other passengers suffered both physically and emotionally from the ordeal. “To anticipate your own death in a plane crash is everyone's nightmare,” said Johnson. “They saw the engine explode and the plane suddenly lose altitude. This was a horrendous, horrifying experience.” Many of his clients suffered ear and sinus injuries from the sudden loss of altitude and loss of pressure, he said. Johnson said he began working on aviation cases as a young lawyer in New York, including cases stemming from the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 and the 1996 explosion and crash of TWA Flight 800 off of Long Island. After returning to Atlanta, Johnson worked with defense firm Nelson Mullins, assisting on litigation stemming from the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 into the Everglades and from the 1998 midair collision of a private jet and single engine plane that killed Dow Lohnes Chairman Marion “Chip” Allen III, managing partner J. Eric Dahlgren and partners Michael Fisher and Craig Folds. He also worked on litigation involving a 2001 charter plane crash that killed three Americans and two Canadians in Venezuela in 2001, and his firm continues to handle cases involving private and charter aircraft, Johnson said.