Murchison & Cumming Trial Attorney Leads Trial Defeating $77 Million Wrongful Death Claim Against Aircraft Company

November 12, 2009

Jury Delivers Defense Verdict in 70 Minutes

Murchison & Cumming LLP is proud to announce the recent trial victory – an 11-1 defense verdict reached by the jury after only 70 minutes of deliberations following a six-week trial – that exonerated the manufacturer, owner, and second pilot of a turbine-powered single-engine utility airplane that crashed in the Banning Pass (between Los Angeles and Palm Springs) in March of 2006. Lead trial attorney was firm partner William T. DelHagen, who tried the case in the Superior Court, Riverside, Ca. along with Don G. Rushing of Morrison & Foerster in San Diego. He was assisted during pre-trial and the trial by Murchison & Cumming associates Paul R. Flaherty and Lisa D. Angelo.

"The plaintiffs thought they had a beautiful theory of liability but at trial it was mugged by a gang of ugly facts all pointing to the pilot error of the plaintiff's decedent," said Mr. DelHagen. Representing the plaintiffs was noted personal injury attorney Lawrence P. Grassini.

The decedent, flying the plane from the left seat, was an outside sales representative specializing in the type of plane involved. In the right seat was the company pilot, a regional sales manager who had brought the plane to the west coast for the salesman to demonstrate to a series of customers. The client manufacturer owned, maintained and operated the aircraft. The two pilots were the only occupants and both were killed instantly in the accident.

The lawsuit, heard before Judge Gloria Trask in Superior Court of California in the County of Riverside, alleged that inability to handle icing conditions caused the aircraft to stall, spin and plummet to the ground. The plaintiffs, the pilot's surviving widow and adult son, claimed the company pilot was completely responsible for the flight's failure because he filed the flight plan. At the end of the trial, they asked the jury to award $37 million in economic damages and $40 million in non-economic damages.

In the course of trial, the defense argued and decisively proved that there was no ice accumulation and skillfully presented evidence of pilot error. The defense team demonstrated that the decedent over-reacted to danger warnings of approaching rising terrain from an onboard system and from air traffic controllers. Mr. DelHagen and his co-counsel showed how the pilot became overcome by panic, rolled the aircraft over, became disoriented in instrument weather conditions and flew into the ground, killing himself and his colleague.

While the trial involved highly technical and complex fact patterns, the strength of the defense team's evidentiary presentation is underscored by the jury's 11-1 verdict, which was reached in just over an hour, on November 12, 2009.

Mr. DelHagen is a partner and a member of the Product Liability Practice Group of Murchison & Cumming, LLP. His successful practice focuses on product liability, aircraft, automotive, general and business litigation matters.