Sports Columnist Says Math Doesn't Add Up
Cirrus Design has been sued by the widow of former New York
Yankees baseball pitcher Cory Lidle for some $50 million, based on
claims by the late ballplayer's agent Lidle would have made at
least that much had his career not been cut short by the October
2006 plane crash that claimed his life.
As ANN reported, Lidle and flight instructor
Tyler Stanger were killed when their Cirrus SR20 crashed into a
Manhattan apartment building while attempting a 180-degree turn
maneuver above the East River. In addition to the victims onboard
the plane, three people on the ground were injured.
Despite a Probable Cause report from the National Transportation
Safety Board that put
all blame for the accident on the failure by both
pilots (it could not be determined whether Lidle or
Stanger was flying the plane) to properly execute a steep turn over
the river -- and the Board's assertion no evidence of any system,
structural or engine malfunctions were found with the aircraft --
that hasn't stopped lawsuits from flying in the aftermath of the
October 11, 2006 accident.
Melanie Lidle filed suit against Cirrus in February
2007, claiming product liability and negligence...
including "catastrophic failure" of the craft's flight control
system (presumably based on the 1999 'aileron failure'
accident that claimed the life of a Cirrus SR20 test pilot.) Again,
the NTSB found no evidence of such a failure in the Lidle case...
but Board reports are inadmissible in court.
Now, the New York Post reports agent Jordan Feagan says Lidle
would have collected $45 million in salary, with the difference
made up from post-retirement income tied to coaching and other
engagements. However, one sports columnist notes the math simply
doesn't added up.
Josh Alper of WNBC notes Lidle would have been 35 years old at
the start of the 2007 season... near the age of retirement for
professional baseball players. Lidle had never collected more than
$3.3 million in a single season before his death, and in Alper's
words "was as average a pitcher as you could find in the major
leagues.
"He certainly would have pitched for another year or two or
three, but he wasn't going to be making $8 million a year," Alper
adds. "And there just isn't enough money in being a pitching coach,
especially one who would likely be in the minors for several years
while making his way up the ladder, to make the [$50 million] claim
stand up on the back end."
Alper concedes it's possible Feagan is lumping Lidle's
retirement pension in to reach the $50 million mark, though he adds
any number of issues could have prevented Lidle from collecting the
full amount. For that matter, "Lidle could have done any number of
things that would have impacted his ability to play another game in
the major leagues before the 2007 season got underway," Alper
notes.
The Lidle family's attempt to collect money from the
manufacturer may not simply be a money grab. Alper notes the
family has been sued by several tenants of the apartment building
that was hit, on the basis pilot error was to blame. If the Lidles
can throw the blame on Cirrus, Alper notes, that changes
things.
(Stanger's family has also been sued, though not to the
extent the Lidles have... possibly, due to the simple fact CFIs
make much less than professional ballplayers. The Stanger family
has also sued Cirrus -- Ed.)