Family Attorneys Livid, Sue For Payment Of Legal Fees
By ANN Reporter Juan Jimenez
Former Senator Jean Carnahan, wife
of the late Gov. Mel Carnahan (right), has made legal history by
returning the $4 million award that a Kansas City jury awarded her
and members of her family against Parker-Hannafin. The award was
meant to compensate the Carnahan's for the alleged negligence of
Parker and several other defendants in the death of her husband,
the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, her son Randy and a third party
travelling in Randy's Cessna 335 when it crashed during the worst
weather seen in the state in quite some time.
Even though the NTSB board had found that the most likely cause
for the crash was Randy's inability to retain to control of the
aircraft, as well as a possible problem with the main attitude
indicator, Ms. Carnahan had insisted for quite some time that she
would not tolerate such a final report. To make good on her
statement, she instructed her lawyers to sue Parker-Hannafin for
$100 million for the alleged failure of the vacuum pumps on the
aircraft, even though the system was determined to be working
perfectly at the time of the crash.
Basing its case on previous alleged failures, the Carnahan's
attorney's managed to convince the jury that there might be some
responsibility on the part of Parker, a $6 billion, 46,000 employee
worldwide aviation products company. However, even though the
judge, a Carnahan appointee, did his very best to prevent
information positive to the defense case from being introduced into
evidence, the jury was not quite as convinced as the Carnahan's of
the issue. In the end, they awarded a total of only $4 million, and
then again only 70% of that was determined to be the responsibility
of Parker-Hannafin. The company decided that the award was a huge
moral victory, and decided not to appeal, forcing the Carnahan's
and their attorneys to accept a payday 25 times less than they
expected.
However, just yesterday, in an
astounding turn of events, Ms. Carnahan called a press conference
in front of the very same courthouse where she received the award
to announce that after very careful consideration, she had decided
to return the award to the defendants. "After giving this entire,
sad issue very careful and painful thought, I have decided that
were my son here, he would not have approved of how the aftermath
of this tragic accident was handled," stated Ms. Carnahan.
For their part, the attorneys for the Carnahan family have
announced that they have filed a lawsuit in Kansas City against
their clients for payment of legal fees. US Attorney General John
Ashcroft, who lost an election to the US Senate from Missouri to
the late Gov. Carnahan after the crash, rolled his eyes and sighed
but otherwise had no comment.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.16.24)
See All