A New Hampshire couple who suffered crippling injuries in a 2007 tour helicopter crash in Ha'ena, Kaua'i, will receive $9.5 million in an out-of-court settlement announced today.

The settlement with Boeing Corp., owners of the company which built the McDonnell Douglas 369 or Hughes 500 helicopter, and Aluminum Precision Products Inc. of Santa Ana, Calif., settles a lawsuit filed by Honolulu attorney L. Richard Fried citing the March 11, 2007 crash was caused by a failed tail-rotor section .

The tail-rotor was "machined" by Aluminum Precision Products, Fried said.

The attorney said there were 16 prior crashes involving the same type aircraft as the one used by Inter-Island Helicopters which went down, killing one person and injuring three others, including Judy L. and Douglas W. Barton of Newport, N.H. In 10 of those prior crashes, metal fatigue of the tail rotor was present, Fried said.

The Bartons both suffered stress spinal fractures. Mrs. Barton is paralyzed from the waist down while her husband can walk but disabled from continuing work as a machinist, said Fried.