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Law May Allow Only Some Sanford Air Crash Victims Their Day In Court,
Aviation Lawyers Say.
July 13, 2007
Families of the three people who died on the ground in Sanford, when a NASCAR owned and operated Cessna 310 crashed earlier this week, could sue the manufacturer of the airplane and the engine maker if an investigation determines either product was responsible for the fiery disaster.
But families of the two men who died on the airplane may not have that option, according to Kreindler & Kreindler, a New York based aviation law firm that represents the families of people killed on the ground when an American Airlines Airbus crashed after takeoff in New York in 2001.
A bill passed in 1994 gives general aviation manufacturers broad immunity in civil law suits if a crashed airplane is older than 18 years. The NASCAR Cessna 310 was built in 1977. That immunity does not, however, extend to people injured or killed outside of the airplane.
Ground victims' families may also have a legal claim against NASCAR. The racing organization's senior pilot, Michael Klemm, and Bruce Kennedy, the husband of NASCAR vice president Lesa France Kennedy, were flying the airplane. Both men were killed.
Aviation accidents related to car racing are not uncommon. In the past 15 years, there have been at least ten, nearly all of them fatal, including a mid air collision of helicopters at the Homestead Miami Speedway in 2005 and the crash in Virginia in 2004 that killed 10 members of the Hendricks Motorsports family.
Kreindler & Kreindler has extensive experience in aviation law. Many of its partners are pilots themselves. For more information or background on the Cessna 310 or litigation arising from similar events call Daniel Rose (917) 941-5259 or Brian Alexander (917) 821-3831.
Kreindler & Kreindler LLP, Tradition of Excellence, New York, New Jersey, Boston, Los Angeles.
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