When I read this, I have to confess that my first thought was that somebody was winding us all up. I was wrong, there's a fairly detailed write-up of the case at
<a href="http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZEJIY7HQC&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0&s=N ews&ExpIgnore=true&showsummary=0" target="_blank">http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZEJIY7HQC&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0&s=N ews&ExpIgnore=true&showsummary=0</A>
Evidently, the judge and jury in the case took the view that there had been so many problems with Cessna seat-rails that it was time the company was punished for not doing something about it. Well, yes, one can see their point, but $480m ??????!
Carefully disidentified let me tell a tale from the UK. I got dragged in after a moderately experienced pilot, with very few hours on a difficult type, crashed an aircraft and nearly killed himself - flying solo. The pilot, with encouragement of an ambulance chasing lawyer on legal aid, decided to sue the manufacturer.
I (largely independent but with the co-operation of both parties) arranged for the aircraft to be rebuilt in it's original settings, and flight tested by a qualified test pilot. My TP concluded that the aircraft could suffer problems, but only if flown OUTSIDE THE CLEARED ENVELOPE. This didn't stop the pilot and lawyer continuing to try and sue the manufacturer. When I challenged the lawyer on this, they had to admit to still drawing legal aid and withholding my report from the legal aid board. I had to threaten to go directly to the legal authorities with the report before they stopped playing silly ******s.
. .Now another story from a previous life. A colleague, working for our then mutual employer, was flying as observer on a flight trial in the USA. Things went wrong, his pilot was killed next to him and he spent some months in hospital. Neither our (UK) employer nor the American operator was prepared to offer any compensation. His only way to cover his personal losses and expenses was to go through one of these American lawyers to sue the US operator.
. .None of these cases is even faintly satisfactory. What's the conclusion? - frankly the whole legal and compensatory system stinks. It's worse in the USA, but not much better in the UK.
G