Originally Posted by
TPROP4ever
This tragedy has made me think very hard. I am a fairly new less than one year FO on my first 121 gig, and Im looking for peoples thoughts.
My question revolves around lawyers, Now we all know tragidies like this result in lawsuits, but it seems recent ( mabye since the Concorde incedent) that lawyers are after the crews families also. Seems today if somthing like this happens and you are not here to defend yourself and you get the blame because the pilot error (weather real or not), how do you protect your family should this happen. Ive heard they can sue your estate, and Im wondering what this would mean for my wife, children, ect. Can anyone shed some light on this? Are there ways to keep our family seperate, if God forbid I( or any of us) was ever involved in a tradgedy like this one, I know it seems a harsh reality, but I wonder how many 121 pilots out there think about what could happen. I appriciate any responses. Fly safe and To the crew and victims of 3407 Godspeed and Rest in peace.
This is my uninformed opinion, not actual legal advice:
Good news and bad news...
Bad news: The plaintiff's lawyers will name anyone and everyone in the lawsuit, including the crew. There are a number of reasons for this....
- It allows the lawyers wider latitude in fact finding (discovery/subpoena).
- While they are most interested in the deep pockets (airline, manufacturer, etc) it's possible that anyone might be independently wealthy. Plaintiff's attornies are greedy by nature, so they are not going to leave any potential money on the table.
- It helps to intimidate potential witnesses (crew family members)
- If they don't sue the crew, their client could later sue THEM for malpractice.
Good news: The airline will normally provide a common defense for the crew, since if they hang them out to dry, they might testify favorably for the plaintiff in exchange for a settlement. The airline would rather have you on their side. This might not apply if the crew did not survive, but even in that case the airline is liable for almost any action or omission on the part of the crew so the airline would rather the crew come out looking good.
Since a typical no-survivors hull loss generates liability in the billions, it is not practical for an individual pilot to get insurance for that. You can place your assets in a trust...this may provide asset protection but you would need to consult with a lawyer in your state for details. It would probably not be worth considering unless you have significant real assets. Generally if your spouse got sued after you crashed, he/she could keep the house, most furnishings, the car, and 401k/IRA/Pension. If a plaintiff were vicious enough to go after the spouse's future earnings, a BK filing would fix that immediately. But again, ask a real lawyer.
I have some assets in trusts and LLC's but that is for business reasons...as far as pilot liability is concerned I just operate on the premise that serious accidents are very, very rare.