Lawsuit filed in death resulting from small plane crash
Recently, the family of a 63-year-old man killed in a small plane collision that occurred in Calabasas, California has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the plane’s owner and the pilot of the other plane, who managed to survive after making an emergency landing on a golf course. The wrongful death suit alleges that the owner and the other pilot were negligent in colliding with the airplane. The man was killed, along with a 69-year-old woman, when the Cessna 172 they were flying collided with a similar plane, which was carrying the pilot and two others who were being trained on being flight instructors. Those in the other plane survived after the emergency landing on the golf course.
Wrongful death suits are filed in cases where one person or institution’s negligence results in the death of a person to whom they owed a duty of ordinary care. The breach of this duty results in the decedent’s death. These lawsuits are filed by a representative of the deceased, such as an attorney or a family member, and they ask for monetary damages in order to give the victim’s family a measure of compensation for the decedent’s death.
Negligence can occur in a variety of situations. In this particular case, it is alleged that the negligence of the plane’s owner and the other pilot allowed the crash to happen, and thus caused the deaths of the two people. They are alleged to have breached a duty of ordinary care towards the two decedents by colliding with the plane, thus causing the wrongful death. Collisions such as this one are a common source of personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits.
Anyone affected by a wrongful death has the legal option to pursue a lawsuit against the defendant to recover monetary damages for expenses such as lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering. The court may order the payment of these damages as a way to hold the defendant accountable as well. The family members and loved ones of a wrongful death victim have the ability to seek a proper redress of their injury.
Source: NBC Los Angeles, “Wrongful death lawsuit filed in small plane crash,” Jason Kandel, Oct. 7, 2013