Airplane Crash Wrongful Death Case Is Allowed to Proceed by West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
Yesterday afternoon our Canadian clients whose mother was killed in a plane crash near the Virginia-West Virginia border received good news. Their wrongful death case arising from this airplane crash was allowed to proceed by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
As the Supreme Court summarized the background:
The appellant’s claims arise from a crash of the Mooney M20C Ranger on
March 16, 2008, in the State of Virginia, 20 miles from the border of West Virginia. Piloting the airplane was Roy Sanwalka, who possessed a Canadian private pilot’s license. This license did not include an instrument rating. The sole passenger in the airplane at the time of the crash was Margaret O’Brien, Roy Sanwalka’s girlfriend. Both Roy Sanwalka and O’Brien were killed when the airplane crashed in or near the Jefferson National Forest in Atkins, Virginia.
The events leading up to the crash were as follows: On March 14, 2008, Roy Sanwalka and O’Brien left Canada en route to the Bahamas. The airplane stopped in Buffalo, New York. The next day, Roy Sanwalka and O’Brien took off from Buffalo International Airport. While in the air, Roy Sanwalka encountered adverse weather and made an unplanned stop at Yeager Airport, in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Roy Sanwalka and O’Brien stayed overnight in Charleston and returned to Yeager Airport on March 16, 2008. While at the airport, Roy Sanwalka refueled the airplane, and despite not being certified with an instrument rating, filed an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) plan documenting his intention to travel to Florida on his way to the Bahamas.
The pair took off from Yeager Airport. Eighteen minutes into the trip, while still over West Virginia, Roy Sanwalka contacted air traffic controllers requesting permission to drop to a lower altitude because of airframe icing on his airplane. Eleven minutes after that radio conversation, Roy Sanwalka contacted the air traffic controllers stating his airplane was going down. Shortly after that conversation the airplane in which Roy Sanwalka and O’Brien were traveling crashed in Atkins, Virginia, killing both occupants instantly.
With co-counsel Scott Segal and Mark Staun of The Segal Law Firm in Charleston, West Virginia, our firm filed a lawsuit for personal injuries and wrongful death against the pilot and his employer, the owner of the plane. Frank Tierney of the Terney Stauffer firm in Ottawa is also counsel representing our clients.
The Supreme Court agreed today that the case could proceed in Charleston, West Virginia, where the pilot's negligent acts took place that ultimately caused the plane to crash just over the Virginia border.
We are very pleased for our clients that they will have their day in court.
