I read an article many years ago in Flying magazine where they were interviewing the President of Cessna. He said at that time (and this was probably at least 25 years ago) they were considering stopping production of their C152's because the cost of Liability Insurance on the airframes was over $15,000, per airplane, coming off the assembly line. I think Piper stopped making little planes for awhile too, same reason.
Finally there was a cap put on the number of years out that an aircraft manufacturer could be held liable for an accident. Perhaps someone here has a better memory of what/when all that went down.
I know the LSA movement/rule was to lower the cost to get into flying, but a new LSA airplane will set you back nearly $100,000! I don't think that was the intent!
We in the USA have wayyy too many lawyers and lawsuits over...everything. Slip on a wet sidewalk? SUE SOMEBODY!
Crash your car into a telephone pole?
SUE the TOWN that put that stupid pole there!
In about 1986 I was based down in MIA flying a Pitts S2 on my off days with Bill Thomas out of the Tamiami airport. There was a business man there who had bought a Pitts S1 to compete with. BUT...this nit wit also liked to go out to practice with a "Competition Fuel Load" i.e. just enough fuel to get to the practice area, fly a couple 4 minute sequences, and come back.
When questioned by some other acro pilots about his lack of fuel, he said, "I want it to fly just like it will in the contests, so I want as little fuel on board as possible..."
Well, one day his luck ran out. He stayed out too long, was going straight up to do a hammerhead when the engine quit, he went over on his back and spun in, inverted I think. I saw the photos afterwards, the airplane was flat, as if a giant had just stomped on it. Even though he was wearing a parachute, he didn't try to jump out, so he was very dead.
Of course his wife sued Christian Industries, the builder of the Pitts Special. Why? Because her lawyer said the Pitts didn't have a fuel gauge that would read accurately in every phase of acrobatic flight! Especially when going straight up...
I don't know what the outcome of the lawsuit was, if it was dismissed or if she got money, but I do know that Pitts started installing a different type of fuel gauge not long afterwards. And I'm sure the price of a new Pitts went up as well.