Payne Stewart air crash verdict

After golfer Payne Stewart and several others were killed in a 1999 plane crash, Stewart’s survivors sued a list of defendants starting with the aircraft’s owner and its operator; perhaps the deepest pocket sued was that of Canadian-owned Learjet, which stood its ground, took the case to trial and was entirely vindicated by a jury […]

After golfer Payne Stewart and several others were killed in a 1999 plane crash, Stewart’s survivors sued a list of defendants starting with the aircraft’s owner and its operator; perhaps the deepest pocket sued was that of Canadian-owned Learjet, which stood its ground, took the case to trial and was entirely vindicated by a jury last week. (“Jurors clear Learjet in Payne Stewart crash”, AP/FoxSports, Jun. 10; “Payne Stewart family sue over air crash”, GolfToday (U.K.), undated 2000). DropZone has a comment thread which includes a discussion of the practice of suing multiple defendants after air crashes (and then working up theories against them individually as needed) and also includes some jaded comment about Instance #785,423 of It Not Being About The Money:

Tracey Stewart, her teenage son and college-aged daughter and Fraley’s widow, Dixie Fraley Keller, said through a statement that “their hope in this effort was to make air travel safer …”

“They brought this litigation not because of money in any capacity; it was always about responsibility,” said attorney Gregory McNeill.

The suit had demanded $200 million.

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