``Lawyers for Swissair and Boeing have agreed that the plaintiffs will not be required to prove liability,'' Mike Holland told AFP. ``The only issue (to be resolved) is the issue of recoverable damages,'' he added.

The announcement came as the two companies met in Philadelphia with various plaintiff parties before Judge James Giles about the September 1998 crash. ``The two companies will jointly assume financial responsibility for the total amount of proven damages stemming form the crash of Swissair flight 111,'' said a joint statement from Swissair and Boeing.

``The joint assumption of liability does not represent an admittance of guilt and also does not anticipate any finding in the ongoing investigation of the crash by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada,'' the statement added.

Theleading plaintiffs' lawyer, Lee Kreindler, said the move was an ``important step forward,'' but added that it was long overdue. ``They should have done this a year ago,'' he added.

Forty-two lawsuits have been filed so far against Swissair, its US partner company Delta, the SAir (Swissair) group, SRTechnics, IFT and plane manufacturer Boeing/McDonnell Douglas in connection with crash of the MD11 aircraft on a flight from New York to Geneva.

The plaintiffs are seeking 16 billion dollars in damages from the companies for the crash, whose cause has not yet been determined.

``Both SAirGroup and Boeing want to ensure that victims' family members are compensated for their proven claims of damage as soon as possible,'' the statement said.

Kreindler said the firms came to the agreement for ``practical reasons -- to enhance their hopes to have the court dismiss the foreign cases''. The move would likely influence the judge to accept the companies' request to examine only lawsuits by US citizens in the UnitedStates, excluding all foreign comp laints, according to Kreindler.

However, the lawyer denied press reports that the firms agreed to pay damages inexchange for the dismissal of punitive damages. He added that ``the first positive result is that it'll move the cases forward.''

The next pre-trial meeting is scheduled for September 13, but lawyers said earlier a pre-trial was not likely to start before June 2000.

Kreindler's firm is defending 73 of the families. His experience stems from representing plaintiffs in the case associated with the explosion of a TWA flight three years ago off the coast of New York.

He has also litigated against PanAm, from which families victimized by the 1988 terrorist bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland obtained 550 million dollars.

``The compensation will have to be larger (in the Swissair case) because of the passenger mix: there were more businessmen, more people supporting families on board Swissair 111. On board PanAm 103 you had a lot of kids and students flying backhome for Christmas,'' Kreindler said.

He overseas a committee that includes 40 defense lawyers representing over 130 families of victims of the catastrophe.