Aircraft Accident Cases.....

The Denman Law Firm specializes in trial practice relating to aviation legal disputes including Aircraft Insurance and Aircraft Accidents representing victims and families of victims of aircraft accidents in personal injury and wrongful death cases.  Jim Denman is  certified by the FAA as a  Commercial Pilot with multi-engine, and instrument ratings. Outlined and summarized below are some of the aviation insurance and aircraft personal injury and wrongful death cases in which we have represented victims of aircraft accidents and their families:

Brown v. Lee County Mosquito Control District-The Lee County Mosquito Control District caused an excessive amount of pesticide and fuel oil to be sprayed by aircraft over land where Brown's cattle were grazing.  Brown's cattle consumed sufficient amounts of these substances to contract pneumonia and die.  Brown sought recovery under an Aircraft Hull and Liability Policy insuring the District.  The insurance policy excluded coverage for "crop dusting, spraying".  Brown also sought recovery under an Airport Owners and Operators Liability Insurance Policy.  The trial court held that neither insurance policy covered Brown's loss.  The court of appeals agreed with the trial court that the Aircraft Hull and Liability Policy exclusion applied and that there was no insurance coverage under that policy.  The court of appeals disagreed with the trial court and held that the Airport Owners and Operators Liability Insurance Policy did provide coverage for Brown's losses.  A complete copy of the written opinion of the Florida Second District court of appeals may be found by clicking here.

Pickett v. Woods-Nancy Pickett as Personal Representative of the Estate of Wilbur Pickett, Jr. filed a wrongful death lawsuit for negligence against Woods and Sellers, Personal Representatives of the estates of the pilot, Jack Byrd and co-owner, Clifford Sellers of an airplane which crashed killing Wilbur Pickett, Jr. The aircraft insurer secured a Final Declaratory Judgment in the federal trial court in Orlando, Florida holding that the insurer had no liability insurance coverage for the aircraft accident and for any negligence of the pilot, Byrd.  After Pickett filed her wrongful death claim in state court against the Estate of Byrd, the insurer moved for summary judgment seeking its dismissal from the case by reason of the federal court Final Declaratory Judgment in its favor.  The trial court granted the insurers motion and dismissed the insurer relieving it from any liability for the wrongful death of Pickett.  On appeal the state court of appeals held that the trial court erred in dismissing the insurer because the insurer had failed to join the Estate of Wilbur Pickett in its federal court insurance coverage case.  A complete copy of the written appellate court opinion may be found by clicking here.

Swoboda v. United States-Gerard Swoboda, an experienced pilot, was contracted to ferry aircraft from Taiwan to New Mexico via Midway Island and Adak, Alaska.  Five hours into an eight hour flight from Midway Island enroute to Adak, Swoboda lost all transmission capabilities on both his HF and VHF radios.   Because of these transmission difficulties Swoboda communicated with two other planes on the same route of flight by pressing his hand-held Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) once to signify "yes" and twice to signify "no".  After Swoboda failed to make a required position report, Anchorage Air Traffic Control Center issued an "uncertainty" alert.  That alert was cancelled a few minutes later when one of Swoboda's companion planes advised Anchorage Center that a military aircraft had heard an ELT signal emanating from Swoboda's aircraft but that that was Swoboda's "way of telling us he is ok".  The "uncertainty" alert was again reinstated 45 minutes later after Swoboda again failed to make a required position report.  After Swoboda's companions landed at Adak and shortly after Swoboda's scheduled arrival time at Adak, an "alert" bulletin was issued.  It was not until 30 minutes after Swoboda's estimated fuel exhaustion time that a 'distress" bulletin was issued and Search and Rescue efforts were first implemented.  

By this time nightfall had come and hampered the search for Swoboda.  The Search and Rescue Coordinator at Adak dispatched a Navy P-3 aircraft with sophisticated electronic and night search equipment in an attempt to locate Swoboda.  But Anchorage Air Traffic Control Center provided the Search and Rescue Coordinator with incorrect coordinates for Swoboda's last known location, causing the aircraft and ships searching for Swoboda to search 700 miles north of Swoboda's last reported position.  The search continued over the next five days until a Coast Guard aircraft sighted a yellow life raft 18 miles south of Adak with the pilot's personal flight bag tethered to it.  Swoboda was never found.

Anne Swoboda, widow and Personal Representative of the Estate of Gerard Swoboda sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Death on the High Seas Act for negligence of the FAA air traffic controllers in (1) failing to initiate a timely "distress" bulletin and notify the Search and Rescue Coordination Center as required by the National Search and Rescue Plan and by air traffic control manuals, (2) failing to notify the Search and Rescue Coordinator when Swoboda's aircraft was overdue at Adak, and (3) and for supplying the Search and Rescue Coordinator with incorrect location information.  After a nonjury trial in federal court, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Anne Swoboda and against the United States for negligence of its air traffic controllers.  Thereafter, the United States appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia.  In a split 2-1 decision, the three judge appellate court panel reversed the trial judge.   A complete copy of the Circuit Court of Appeals written opinion and the dissent may be found by clicking here.  The Supreme Court of the United States denied Anne Swoboda's request to rehear the case.  

Kapinos v. MD Aero, Inc.-The Federal Aviation Administration encourages their Air Traffic Controllers to take familiarization flights with pilots who offer to fly them around the local areas the Air Traffic Controllers are responsible for in their work.  When a pilot, Dr. Davis called the Executive Airport Tower in Fort Lauderdale offering a "fam flight" to controllers, Mr. Kapinos, a controller, was available and accepted the invitation to fly with Dr. Davis around the local area in his WACO Classic bi-wing, tandem, open cockpit aircraft.  After takeoff from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE) the flight proceeded east and then northbound at 1000' along the beach to a point just east and north of Boca Raton, Florida.  At this point the engine began to vibrate violently and oil began to leak from the cowling appearing on the wind screen of the front passenger, Mr. Kapinos and the pilot, Dr. Davis. The aircraft engine began to lose power and altitude. Dr. Davis declared an emergency and turned westbound to attempt to find a place to land the airplane.  His first place of intended landing was Boca Raton Airport.  The pilot of an airplane in the traffic pattern intending to land on runway 23 at the Boca Raton Airport saw the Davis airplane  at about 500' above the runway at Boca Raton Airport and radioed Dr. Davis to let him know that he was right above the airport.  Dr. Davis replied he could not see it and continued flying straight westbound until he hit trees, landing in the yard of a residence at the Boca Bath and Tennis Club development.  Mr. Kapinos, the passenger and our client, sustained serious personal injuries as a result.   

Through our subsequent investigation and court discovery we determined the cause of the engine failure was the detachment of the #7 cylinder from the Jacobs rotary engine inflight. The fatigue failure of  three hold down studs caused the remaining 9 hold down studs of the #7 cylinder to fail due to the stress created.  Examination of the Engine Logs revealed that there were approximately 150 flight hours since the hold down studs had been last inspected.  The Manufacturers Service Manual required the hold down studs on each engine cylinder to be inspected every 100 hours of engine use.  

Mr. Kapinos and his wife sued Dr. Davis and MD Aero, Inc., the titled owner of the aircraft, in federal court for negligent failure to land at the Boca Raton Airport and negligent maintenance of the aircraft. One month before trial was to begin in federal court a substantial settlement was reached in favor of Mr. and Mrs. Kapinos.

Weiss v. America West Airlines, Inc.-Our clients Dr. and Mrs. Weiss boarded America West Airlines Flight 881 scheduled for a nonstop flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Phoenix, Arizona. The Airbus 320 aircraft utilized for the flight was equipped with the latest and most up to date weather avoidance equipment including color weather radar.  Approximately one hour into the flight while over the Gulf of Mexico and after having reached a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, the aircraft encountered severe turbulence. The seat belt sign had been turned off.  Mrs. Weiss had unbuckled her seatbelt to get something out from under the seat in front of her when the turbulence was encountered.  She was ejected from her aisle seat into the overhead bin and seconds later she was ejected again into the ceiling panels in the aisle above her.  When she came down after the second "drop", her lower back landed directly on the armrest of her seat.  She sustained serious personal injuries to her neck and lower back.  A flight attendant was also injured when she was ejected into the ceiling panel along with the heavy beverage cart.  Dr. Weiss sustained less serious injuries when the foot of a passenger struck him in the head.  Another flight attendant and other passengers sustained less serious injuries. 

We conducted a presuit investigation and secured all of the NTAP and DART computerized radar data from the FAA for the flight involved.  We also secured the weather radar data from the Jacksonville and Tallahassee weather radar facilities for the date and time in question.  By overlaying the flight track of the aircraft upon the weather where the turbulence encounter occurred we were able to determine and prove that the aircraft had flown into a severe VIP level 5 thunderstorm.

Lightning strikes at or near the time and place of a turbulence encounter is a known indicator of severe weather or the likelihood of it.  The green dots on the lightning strike chart indicate multiple lightning strikes in the area and near the time of the turbulence encounter. The superimposed star indicates the location of the aircraft at the time of the turbulence encounter.

Suit was filed and after many depositions of crewmembers, passengers and expert witnesses, a substantial settlement was reached in favor of our clients and against the airline.