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.

Pontius Pilot

Technically there's not much you can do that I'm aware to potentially keep your family out of it (besides divorce). You can hope your union will do its best or carry enough insurance (millions upon millions) to satisfy the lawyers that go after you. But in today's litigious society there is very little you can do. They can attempt to go after anything - whether or not they are successful can be a different matter.

ExperimentalAB

If some dirtbag lawyer would so much as think about adding to my family's stress like that if something were to happen to me, I swear to god I'll come back from the dead and destroy him...make his life a living hell :mad:

But I can't imagine these families in question have much to worry about.

TPROP4ever

Yes, being a pilot these days just seems to be a darned if you do darned if you dont, scenario. I can shoulder being under a microscope, by my chosen profession, but this whole thing has definatly given pause to the fact and reality that our families, who dont chose our profession could be swept up in this. And not always for their best interests. I really hope I am not the only pilot out there that thiks about these things, and mabye there are some pilots with a wealth of experiance that can shed some light....thanks guys I look foward to a good discussion

ExperimentalAB

Well the Concorde accident is a different animal too; Europe (and most countries) will hold you personally accountable if something went wrong during the course of your Professional duties. That is much less so State-side.

TPROP4ever

Yes, but it is changing, I think it was the comair crash was the first time stateside I heard of lawyers going after a dead captains estate....sad

rickair7777

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.

TPROP4ever

Thanks Rickair,
I agree the odds are that these tragedies dont happen often, I was just curious about what kind of exposure we as pilots subject our family to. I guess being new to this industry, and in light of this event, it made me think, can they take our house from my wife or sue her, because we were married, if I were unfortunate enough to be involved in something like this. The good news these tragedies are rare (no doubt due to the training and professionalism we operate by), but when you see news of a major crash like this it makes one wonder...it sounds like this one could have happened to any of us. Any aviation lawyers have any advice?

SmoothOnTop

go to aopa.org
sign up
enroll in their ATP legal insurance
fly safely
floss
brush
gargle
spit...

rickair7777

Um, no...that's some pretty bad advice. That legal services plan will help you deal with the FAA if you get violated. It does NOT provide liability or hull loss insurance, not even for GA (much less airline operations).