Suit Filed in Payne Stewart Crash
Oct. 25, 2000 -- 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
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.
The NTSB has reached no conclusion about the probable causeof the accident but a final report is expected this year.
The FBI is pursuing its own investigation of SunJet,seizing company records in an effort to determine whetherfederal laws on maintenance and record keeping were broken.
SunJet sold its assets to Orlando Jet Center in June.
PGA players at the National Car Rental Classic at Disney Worldoutside Orlando said today that the anniversary of Stewart’sdeath was a painful reminder of what the tour had lost.
“Completely healed? I don’t know. I don’t know if you everreally do,” Tiger Woods said. “Payne was such a fixture out thereand a part of all our lives, and we accept the fact that he hasgone to a better place. But the hard part is that he is missing inour lives.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.