Lawyers, Family of Co-Pilot to Receive $22,600,000 in Crash
Award
The family of a Chicago area co-pilot, killed when
the pilot lost control during takeoff of a corporate jet crashed at
Palwaukee Airport in Wheeling, Illinois in 1996, will finally
receive the almost $19,000,000 that a Cook County jury awarded them
in their lawsuit against Aon on January 24, 2001, plus 9% annual
interest.
The Illinois Appellate Court upheld the award to the family of
Robert "Hamp" Whitener, then 50, a corporate pilot for
Alberto-Culver who was acting as co-pilot of the company's
Gulfstream IV jet when it crashed shortly after takeoff on October
30, 1996.
The plane was piloted by an Aon pilot, Martin Larry Koppie,
under an agreement the two companies had to share each other's
planes. In addition to the two men, Arthur Quern, the CEO and
Chairman of the Board of Aon Risk Management, and flight attendant
Catherine Anderson were also killed in the crash of the
Alberto-Culver plane.
Witnesses testified that as Koppie was attempting to take off,
the plane skidded off the left side of the runway, barely cleared a
fence at the end of the airfield, bounced over the highway and
crashed, exploding into flames. A coroner's report indicated that
Whitener survived the initial crash and died from burns and smoke
inhalation as he tried to escape the wreckage.
A
report by the National Transportation Safety Board cited several
factors for the crash including: Koppie's losing control of the
aircraft, his failure to abort take-off, lack of coordination
between the two companies when there was a "mixed crew," and a
ditch alongside the runway that stripped the plane's landing
gear.
Today, the ditch remains next to part of the runway. Due to
safety concerns, Aon moved its aviation base to Midway Airport in
Chicago after the crash.
Whitener's wife, Teresa and their two children, a girl, now 17,
and a boy, now 14, today live in Pennsylvania.
In
their ruling Thursday, the Appellate Court affirmed the jury award
for the family, $18,946,749. Statutory annual interest of 9% [the
best investment available! --ed] is automatically added, increasing
the award by $1,705,000 each year, for a judgment to date of
approximately $22,600,000.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the
probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: "failure of
the pilot-in-command (PIC) to maintain directional control of the
airplane during the takeoff roll in a gusty crosswind, his failure
to abort the takeoff, and failure of the copilot to adequately
monitor and/or take sufficient remedial action to help avoid the
occurrence. Factors relating to the accident included the gusty
crosswind condition, the drainage ditch, the flight crew's
inadequate preflight, the Nose Wheel Steering Control Select Switch
in the 'Handwheel Only' position, and the lack of standardization
of the two companies' operations manuals and Interchage
Agreement."
Aon had appealed the jury's verdict on various grounds. Although
the NTSB had concluded there was nothing wrong with the plane, Aon
contended that the plane's rudder or steering malfunctioned during
takeoff. The NTSB conclusions were inadmissible during the two
month trial.
Immediately before the trial, the Quern and Anderson cases
settled against Alberto-Culver. The Palwaukee Municipal Airport
Commission had been dismissed by a circuit court judge before the
trial, but the Appellate Court reversed the dismissal during the
Whitener trial.
Jerry A.
Latherow, the Whiteners' attorney, said Alberto-Culver CEO Howard
Bernick had been extremely supportive of Teresa and the children,
staying in touch with the family and providing funds for the
teenagers' college education. Nevertheless, Koppie's estate sued
Alberto-Culver. That case went to trial in front of the same jury
as the Whitener case, but ended with a hung jury. The Koppie case,
which includes Palwaukee Airport again, is set to begin trial on
March 13 before Judge Thomas Flanagan in Cook County Circuit
Court.