Suit Filed in Payne Stewart Crash

Oct. 25 -- The families of champion golfer Payne Stewart and the three other passengers who died in a Learjet crash exactly one year ago today have filed suit against theplane’s operator and owner.

The lawsuit filed in Orange County Circuit Court by TraceyStewart and her children seeks an unspecified amount of damages.

It accuses operator Sunjet Aviation Inc., and owner Jet Shares One Inc., ofnegligence. Lawsuits also were filed by the families of threeothers who died in the crash: Stewart’s agents, Van Ardan andRobert Fraley, and golf-course designer Bruce Borland.

On Oct. 25, 1999, Stewart’s plane began veering off courseshortly after takeoff from Orlando, Fla., on a flight toTexas for a golf tournament.

The flight continued on autopilot and crashed hours later in a field near Aberdeen, S.D., after the Learjet ran out of gas. Efforts to contact the plane by radio and with military chase planes were unsuccessful.

The Learjet’s cabin-pressure system wasn’t properly inspected,maintained or repaired, according to the lawsuit. In addition, theoxygen-supply system and a valve in the engine weren’t properlymaintained and the plane’s crew failed to take proper correctivemeasures in the emergency, according to the complaint.

Valve Had Been Replaced

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The suit was filed by attorneys at Speiser Krause of Arlington, Va., on behalf ofthe Ardan, Fraley and Stewart families and by Eversole & Ruddof Miami on behalf of the Borland family.

Mark Dumbroff, a Washington-based attorney for Sunjet, said hewouldn’t comment until he had seen the lawsuits. Sunjet, theSanford, Fla.-based company that operated the airplane, wasdissolved earlier this year and any damages will be pursued fromthe company’s insurance.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators havefocused much of their efforts on examining the plane’s cabinpressure system and its maintenance history.

Maintenance logs released by the NTSB last month showed that the Learjet had previous problems with its cabin-pressure system. The logs also showed that a valve had tobe replaced following in-flight loss of cabin pressure muchearlier, on June 28, 1986.