Repair company's lack of hazmat training fined $500,000

MIAMI - A defunct jet repair company was fined $500,000 Tuesday for failing to train its workers to properly handle hazardous materials before the 1996 ValuJet crash that killed 110 people. <br> <br> The case marked the first time an aviation company was prosecuted in response to a U.S. air disaster. Convictions on eight other counts tying SabreTech Corporation more directly to the crash were thrown out on appeal. <br> <br> The sentencing brought an end to investigations and prosecutions by federal and state authorities of the crash into the Everglades minutes after takeoff May 11, 1996. <br> <br> Investigators blamed explosive-tipped oxygen generators that SabreTech improperly packaged as cargo. <br> <br> A federal jury convicted SabreTech on nine of 23 charges. A federal appeals court threw out eight counts of causing the transportation of hazardous materials because federal law at the time did not support the conviction. <br> <br> The company was originally ordered to pay two million dollars in fines and nine million dollars restitution. With guidance from the appeals court, U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King imposed the maximum fine and placed the company on probation for three years on the one remaining charge. <br> <br> Raskin said the company is unlikely to appeal and noted the company has a negative net worth of $22 million. The judge stuck to his earlier finding that SabreTech is able to pay the fine.