On Tuesday, July 10, 2007, a Cessna 310R airplane, serial no. 310R0866, crashed into a neighborhood in Sanford, Florida. The pilot had reported smoke in the cockpit and was attempting an emergency landing approach when the crash occurred.
The Cessna 310R model has a history of smoke-related service difficulty reports. These include cases of smoke in the cockpit. Also, smoke and fire in the cockpit was involved in the December 6, 1987 crash of a Cessna 310R in New York. Kreindler & Kreindler lawyers and experts have researched the relevant prior accidents, airworthiness directives, service bulletins and service difficulty reports.
The claims of the ground victims against Cessna and the airplane's component parts manufacturers are not barred by the General Aviation Revitalization Act ("GARA"), a federal tort reform measure that provides for an 18-year statute of repose. GARA does not apply even though the airplane was manufactured in 1977 because Congress provided an exception in the law, which preserves ground victims' claims.
Ground victims may also have a legal claim against the airplane's owner, Competitor Liaison Bureau, Inc., a company registered by William C. France, the recently deceased NASCAR executive The racing organization's senior pilot, Michael Klemm, and Bruce Kennedy, the husband of NASCAR vice president Lesa France Kennedy (the daughter of William France), were flying the airplane. Both men were killed. The ties between the owner and NASCAR need to be examined in the event that the company did not carry adequate insurance.
Please call Andrew ("Duke ") Maloney at (212) 973-3438 if you have any questions regarding the disaster.
