As for the liability issue, I think the finding was that ST caused the crash, but ValueJet had a non-delegable duty to maintaine their airplanes so they were (also) liable civilly. But I think all the cases settled out of court anyway. Also, the reason why they were liable is not respondeat superior, which means you are liable for the acts of your "servants", but rather that they had a non-delegable duty.

FL is a very different airline today. Different planes, different people in charge, different mechanics, etc. The planes are much newer. Most of the negative comments about them are not valid, because they related to planes or a company that does not exist anymore. They are as legitimate as critizing DL for a 35-year old plane that DL owns that is sitting in the desert because its 35-yrs old. What does it matter if their accident rate was 5.88 six years ago?