The family’s legal team, Cranfill Sumner, stated that the agency lawsuit is the first of its type and that it will “form the foundation” for future lawsuits of a similar nature because space debris has grown to be a “real and serious issue”.
Alejandro Otero’s house sustained damage in March when the object crashed through the roof and flooring.
Daniel, the son of Mr. Otero, was at home at the time and was unharmed.
According to the family’s attorneys, they seek $80,000 (£63,000) in damages “to account for the stress and impact that this event had on their lives”.
Although their clients were “glad that no one suffered physical injuries,” Cranfill Sumner noted that the “near-miss situation” might have been “catastrophic.”
“If the debris had hit a few feet in another direction, there could have been serious injury or a fatality,” the company stated.
NASA reports that in March 2021, ground operators used a robotic arm to release a cargo pallet containing “aging batteries” from the space station. This is when the debris plummeted to Earth.
“The hardware was expected to fully burn up during entry through Earth’s atmosphere on 8 March 2024,” it read.
