Speiser Krause in the News and Recent Developments

Partner Douglas Latto will be a featured speaker at the AVICON Aviation Insurance Conference discussing the plaintiff's perspective on aviation accident litigation.

The firm recently filed lawsuits on behalf of three families arising from the April 27, 2014 crash of a Piper PA 32R-300 aircraft that impacted an unlit wind turbine in Highmore, South Dakota.  The victims of the crash, young men in their 20's and 30's, were traveling as passengers and were returning home to their families from a trip to Texas.  At approximately 9:15 p.m. the aircraft impacted the unlit wind turbine, causing it to crash and killing all aboard.  Pursuant to various Federal Aviation Regulations and guidelines, the owner and operator of the wind turbine, NextEra Energy, was required to ensure that the wind turbine was lit.  If, however, the lighting system was not functioning, NextEra Energy was obligated to notify the local Flight Standards District Office of the outage so that a warning could be issued to pilots flying in the vicinity of the wind turbine that the light was not working.  Unfortunately, NextEra Energy failed in both of these obligations causing the aircraft to impact the unlit wind turbine.  The lawsuits, filed by each of the passenger’s widows in the Circuit Court of the 11^th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, seek all available wrongful death and survival damages as a result of this tragedy. 

On July 7, 2015, at approximately 11:00 a.m., a US Air Force F-16 collided in mid-air with a Cessna 150 approximately 25 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina.  The pilot and passenger of the Cessna were tragically killed while the pilot of the fighter jet ejected after the collision and is expected to make a full recovery.  The F-16 military aircraft was on a training mission between the Air Force base located in Sumter, South Carolina, and the Joint Base in Charleston which serves as a military and civilian airport.  The Cessna 150 had just taken off from the Berkeley County Airport which is located between the Sumter and Charleston bases. 

A holiday cruise turned tragic for eight passengers on board a sightseeing float plane which impacted a rock face in the Misty Fjord National Monument Wilderness.  On June 25, 2015 the vacationers from Maryland, California, Nevada and Oregon boarded a Promech Air de Havilland DHC-3CT Otter turboprop aircraft for a sightseeing excursion as part of their cruise on the MS Westerdam operated by Holland America Line.  The trip was part of a tour called CruiseFly which consisted of two groups of passengers from the MS Westerdam; one group that boarded the sightseeing aircraft and another that boarded a marine vessel.  The two groups then met at a floating dock in Rudyard Bay and switched modes of transportation to meet back at the cruise ship in Ketchikan, Alaska.  The crash occurred on the aircraft’s return leg to the cruise ship.

Speiser Krause partner Doug Latto is a featured speaker on Lawline's "Aviation Litigation: The View From 30,000 Feet." Watch the video on the Lawline website here. 

Speiser Krause Partner Jeanne O'Grady is a featured speaker at the 8th Annual McGill Conference on International Aviation Liability and Insurance. 

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On March 9, 2015, Amtrak train number 80, the Carolinian, was headed northbound from Charlotte, NC and destined for New York when it derailed near Halifax, North Carolina after striking an oversized tractor trailer obstructing the tracks at a railroad crossing.

The tractor trailer, owned by Guy M. Turner, Inc., a multi-state trucking company headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, was being operated by John Devon Black, a Turner employee and convicted felon with a history of traffic violations. The mammoth rig, hauling a huge load of building material, was reportedly sitting across the tracks for up to 20 minutes prior to the crash as the driver attempted to navigate a turn onto another roadway. Because of the size of the load, the tractor trailer was being escorted across the tracks by the North Carolina Highway Patrol.