Originally Posted by
Thomas coupling
Finally - in the UK the claimants would sue the pilot first. If there was not enough money in the pilots insurance policy AND their private estate, they would then sue for the rest of the money from the owner/operator.
Was the pilot suitably insured i ask?
Not an attorney, but that's not the way it works in the US. From my observation it seems that lawsuits are filed naming all defendants at once. The plaintiffs are typically a lot more interested in naming the defendants with the ability to pay a lot of money (deep pockets) than the defendants at fault. Many states have "Joint and severable liability" which means that a defendant may be sued and assessed far in excess of their actual contribution to the damages. ie: you may have one party which is 90% at fault, but has no assets, and another party who is 10% at fault but with large assets. The second may wind up paying the majority of the damages. Maybe a US attorney can explain this better than I have.