Warbird Information Exchange

Local news reported today that a family living in Plano TX has filed a lawsuit over the Reno crash. I believe their father was one of the spectators who died. The family announced they are seeking $25 million from the pilot's family, the plane's mechanic, and the organizers of the event.

I'm sure there will be many more ....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45121912/ns/us_news-life/?gt1=43001

Not sure why it was filed in Collin County. The lawyer is in Houston and Craig Salerno was from Friendswood.....But here's the story from MSNBC.

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And it begins....

They keep heading this way and the races are done. Also expect warbird insurance to go up.

Mark H

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Fly safe or you get to meet me .......

The lawsuit was filed in Collin County because the modifications to the plane were done in large part in McKinney at KTKI by Richard Shanholtzler, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Well that explains that one. I'm sure that that particular country also has some history as being "plaintiff friendly" in as much as lawyers choose their jurisdictions carefully (note is wasn't filed in Reno or Ocala FL; locals would tend to be friendly to RARA or Leeward, but who really knows the guy that built the Ghost in his county)....

Mark H

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Fly safe or you get to meet me .......

Collin County isn't any more plaintiff "friendly" any more than most of Texas. You have to remember that Texas also has Tort Reform in place, so depending on how the lawsuit was filed, damages may be modified once/if the hearing starts due to it.

I digress from the subject, but Collin County was my first exposure to a Texas micro-brewery...'round 1985...one that was dedicated to the Reinheitsgebot standard...somewhere I still have the sales package from them I recieved in my bar manager days.

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Most of the "jackpot justice" cases were in small east Texas counties, where a surprising number of judges - and pharmacists - now live in 20,000 sq ft homes.

Collin County is part of the Dallas metro area and hopefully a bit more civilized. However, there is no doubt that is a more favorable location for the plaintiffs in this case than Reno or Ocala. I suspect a significant majority of the lawsuits stemming from this tradgedy will be filed there.

I can only agree with DB2... Colllin Country Courts will get busy....

Mark H

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Fly safe or you get to meet me .......

And unfortunately, for the warbird community at least, the argument for gross negligence by the defendants is not a difficult one to make.

Thought he was just the engine builder?

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

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Hate to say it, but if you touched the Ghost, you are probably on the hook....

So who really did the sheet metal and designed it?

Mark H

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Fly safe or you get to meet me .......

As is the case with 99% of all aviation civil lawsuits resulting from accidents, everyone is sued, it's a tactic used by lawyers to try and get someone to show up instead of settle and get to have their little circus sideshow while they try to do their best to legally slander everyone who ever had anything to do with the airplane and make completely indefensible claims that a normal, rational person would never believe, but they hope a group of 12 (and the public at large) will believe because of the poor, grieving VICTIMS of the negligence of these RICH, HEARTLESS airplane owners, manufacturers, and suppliers.

I can't remember the name off hand right now, but one of the major carburetor manufacturers for Lycoming shutdown a few years ago because they could no longer get liability insurance on their product due to the number of civil lawsuits filed against them even though they had never paid a judgement and had never been found at fault for an accident legally or civilly.

This is the world we unfortunately live in - that legal release you sign when you go to a sporting event or when you do something that has dangers isn't worth the paper it's printed on anymore. Anyone can sue for anything regardless of whether there's any merit and too many courts fail to do their job and throw out the meritless claims before it costs the defendents a lot of money just to prove they did what they were supposed to and then no get paid a dime for being successful because the plaintiff's already broke and now has to pay their own lawyers and court fees.

Wonder if it would be this case?

http://www.aviationlawmonitor.com/2010/ ... -lycoming/

Seems to me that Textron should be able to build carbs.... Its not rocket science....

There are several reasons that everyone gets sued. Too much to go into here, but it has to do with protecting your client. Which if you were the client, I'm sure you'd want protected....

Also CAPFLYER... I'm sure your info comes from some media sources, and if you think courts regularly let anyone sue anyone else for anything, you may well be disappointed.

BTW, you are very correct in that releases are pretty much worthless. While they may protect the venue from a lawsuit for a slip and fall or fan getting struck by a foul ball, they don't cover things that are either very catastrophic or disasterous. I doubt ANYONE was at Reno expecting to be killed. If I thought there was much of a chance of that happening, then I wouldn't have been there. But when that happens and someone is at fault lawsuits happen. Everyone needs to understand LAWYERS DONT CREATE THEM... Why are releases worthless? THINK for a second. YOU SIGN IT AND YOU DIE..... When you die your ESTATE COMES INTO BEING, it is created legally at the instant of your death. You can't sign away someone else's rights, only your own. So signing a release for your "spouse, children, heirs, assigns, etc" isn't valid since YOU CANT SIGN YOUR RIGHTS away anymore than I can sign you up for a hitch in the Army... You definately can't sign away your rights for your estate since it didn't exist until you died. There is a lot there, more than most people can understand.

BTW, I was on the phone with the Collin County Clerks Office this morning to get a copy of the lawsuit for an article I'm writing, its pretty popular. You don't even have to know the names or numbers (which I looked up in advance) since they've been swamped with calls for it today. I'll post it when I get it.

Mark H

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Fly safe or you get to meet me .......