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HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- One year to the day after a fiery, fatal Concorde crash outside Paris, the families of five of the French crew members filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Continental Airlines and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co, alleging the two companies contributed to the accident.

The Air France Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff July 25, 2000, killing all 109 people on board and four on the ground.

French authorities are still investigating the accident, but are pursuing the theory that a piece of metal, which apparently fell from a Continental Airlines jet onto the runway, may have punctured one of the plane's tires, leading to a catastrophic chain of events that doomed the Concorde.

The lawsuit, filed in Harris County Court by a California law firm, asserts that Continental and Goodyear, which made the Concorde's tires, are to blame for the crash.

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A spokesman for Goodyear said there was "nothing wrong" with the Concorde's tires, and a spokesman for Continental said the airline was not responsible for the tragedy.

Mike Danko, one of the San Mateo attorneys handling the case, said Air France was not sued because there is no evidence "yet" of negligence by the airline. Danko also said worker compensation laws, similar in the United States and France, prevent employees from suing their employers for injuries or deaths that occur on the job.

The lawsuit was filed in Houston because that is where Continental is based and that is where Danko said a 17-inch metal wear strip was improperly installed on the Continental jet. The lawsuit alleges the strip fell from a Continental DC-10, which had taken off from the runway at Charles De Gaulle Airport just five minutes before the Concorde.

Danko said the Goodyear tires should have been better designed to either withstand the puncture or have a less destructive impact on the Concorde in the event of a blowout.

The lawsuit does not specify a monetary award. Danko said that would be left to the discretion of the court.

Chris Aked, a spokesman for Goodyear, rejected the suggestion that the Concorde tire was flawed.

"As far as any lawsuits are concerned, we will defend the company because our position is there was absolutely nothing wrong with the integrity or the quality of the tire itself," Aked said.

Nick Britton, a spokesman for Continental Airlines had similar comments.

"We have not been served with the lawsuit, and therefore we have not seen the substantive allegations," he said in a statement.

"While our sympathies go to the families of the victims, we do not believe that Continental was responsible for the tragic Concorde accident."

Relatives for many of the passengers on board had previously reached settlements with Air France's insurers.

Many of those relatives gathered outside Paris Wednesday for ceremonies marking the crash.