2011 Marsico Moran vs. Winner Aviation Corporation
Jury Awards more than $11 Million in airplane crash lawsuit
The Wolk Law Firm has obtained yet another multi-million dollar verdict for its clients in the case of Marsico Moran vs. Winner Aviation Corporation.
The verdict, a total of $11.358 million dollars was returned after a two week jury trial in Philadelphia during which The Wolk Law Firm brought an actual Cessna 337 Skymaster twin engine aircraft into a city owned parking lot for an up close and personal orientation for the jury.
The plaintiffs suffered 3rd degree burns over 35% of their bodies as the aircraft they were flying crashed into a water treatment plant after losing engine power shortly after takeoff from the Dekalb Peachtree Airport near Atlanta Ga.
Plaintiffs contended that ineffective inspections and maintenance were the cause of the power interruption.
One of the plaintiffs, a doctor, is now back to work performing cancer dermatological surgeries but the other, a female airline pilot, has been unable to rejoin her profession.
The case was tried by Arthur Alan Wolk, Cynthia Devers, Bradley Stoll and Cheryl DeLisle of the Wolk Law Firm of Philadelphia and they were assisted by Jaime Lebovitz, Ellen McCarthy and Tamara Brininger of the Cleveland based law firm of Nurenberg Paris.
The Wolk Law Firm is internationally renowned for obtaining and holding the largest aviation verdicts.
We are thankful for the our jury system because it allows a judgment of the most complicated and serious matters through the personal sacrifice of citizens willing to do their duty.
2010 Avco Corporation
A jury in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas returned a eighty eight million seven hundred thousand dollar ($88,700,000) verdict against AVCO Corporation – twenty four million seven hundred thousand dollars ($24,700,000) in compensatory damages and sixty four million dollars ($64,000,000) awarded for punitive damages in a separate jury deliberation.
The Plaintiffs asserted that a defective Marvel-Schebler carburetor was the cause of the accident which killed three people and severely injured a fourth. Plaintiffs advanced that the carburetor failed when its needle valve became cocked in the brass seat used to determine the fuel level in the carburetor bowl flooding the carburetor; and that the bolts that hold the carburetor halves together loosened on their own.
This verdict was decided under the “Knowing Misrepresentation” exception to the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, a federal statute of repose. The parties reached a settlement before the Court entered judgment.
2010 Caption Confidential
A seven million dollar ($7,000,000) settlement was reached for the death of a businessman who was killed when the engine of his single engine aircraft lost power on descent to landing. The problem was traced to vapor in the fuel system which could not be overcome by the engine driven or auxiliary fuel pumps.
The problem had been well known to the aircraft and engine manufacturers. The victim was survived by a wife and two children.
2010 Caption Confidential
An eight million dollar ($8,000,000) settlement was reached for the deaths of two friends who were killed when the pilot’s seat of the a single engine aircraft suddenly slid rearwards on takeoff causing loss of aircraft control.
The men were survived by adult children and widows.
The Wolk Law Firm reconstructed a similar aircraft, put it on hydraulic jacks and demonstrated the sudden pitch up of the aircraft to the jury in a tent erected in front of the courthouse. The case settled shortly thereafter.
2010 Pridgen vs. Lycoming
A Philadelphia jury returned an eighty-nine million dollar ($89,000,000) verdict against an engine manufacturer for a power loss on takeoff in a single engine aircraft. The cause of the loss of power was traced to a defective carburetor. The verdict was for three deaths and a serious injury. Most notable about the case was that it was appealed no less than three times by the defendant and took nearly ten years to come to trial. Those appeals resulted in favorable interpretations of the General Aviation Revitalization Act for plaintiffs. Pre judgment interest alone was $13,000,000. The case ultimately settled. The Wolk Law Firm is the nation’s leader in obtaining appellate court interpretation of GARA, all favorable to plaintiffs.
2010 Caption Confidential
A seven million five hundred thousand dollar ($7,500,000) settlement was obtained from multiple defendants for the death of a physician due to engine failure in a single engine airplane.
The cause of the loss of engine power was a loss of engine timing due to defective hold down clamps on a single drive dual magneto.
Engine vibration was found to cause the magneto to rotate in place changing engine timing until internal heat and loss of proper timing resulted in complete engine failure.
The Wolk Law Firm did tests that demonstrated the failure and careful examination of the badly burned wreckage confirmed that one of the two magneto hold-down clamps had departed the aircraft before the power loss. The problem had been identified years before and never corrected by the engine manufacturer.
2010 Caption Confidential
A five million three hundred thousand dollar ($5,300,000) settlement was reached for the death of a family aboard a single engine aircraft attempting an emergency landing at night.
The engine caught fire due to a failed fuel injector line and the pilot was overcome by smoke and fumes while attempting an off airport landing.
The Wolk Law Firm discovered the hole in the fuel injector line after years of painstaking investigation and finally located it when a rubber grommet flaked off and revealed a hole in the stainless steel fuel line. Such holes were well known due to the composition of the stainless steel and the rubber used for the grommet which was high in chlorine which became hydrochloric acid and etched the hole. The Wolk Law Firm uses real science to defeat its adversaries. No expense is spared in this effort.
2010 Caption Confidential
A fourteen million dollar ($14,000,000) settlement was reached for the death of a prominent businessman who was a passenger in a chartered aircraft.
The pilots of the aircraft attempted a landing on a very wet runway and when the aircraft would not stop due to a failure of a lift spoiling system, they attempted a rejected landing with insufficient runway remaining. The aircraft crashed killing all aboard. The Wolk Law Firm led a team of lawyers in establishing defects in the lift spoiling system of the aircraft and the operational mistakes which led to the crash. A radio controlled model of the aircraft was created which replicated the failures of the lift spoiling system ready for use before a jury had the case not settled. The victim was survived by a wife and two adult children and an adoring family of brothers, sister, mother and first cousins.
2010 Caption Confidential
A nine million dollar ($9,000,000) settlement was reached for the death of a young father of three who was killed when the aircraft in which he was a passenger struck a navigation antenna, cart wheeled and crashed to the ground. While the victim was new in his job, he was so highly regarded by his employer and co-workers that he was soon to be promoted to a management position. The loss to his young family was so compelling that some of his children refused to admit that he was not coming home even years after the accident.
2010 Caption Confidential
Three and a half million dollars ($3,500,000) was obtained by settlement for the death of a man and injuries to his adult son when the propeller on their single engine aircraft suddenly separated in flight. The cause of the failure was an improper propeller overhaul that allowed for stress risers to remain in the blade from corrosion pits.
The Wolk Law Firm used modern science to find the pits, determine the cause of the fracture and trace the failure back to the overhauler. Another propeller overhaul by the same company within months of this accident had caused another accident. The science used in the first case confirmed that the appearance of the propeller in this crash was identical and caused for the same reason. That collective and repetitive finding no doubt was the incentive for the defendant to settle.
