Pilot, Passenger, Engine Manufacturer, Overhauler All Named

Hang on to your wallets. A second lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Thursday, June 22, on behalf of a Chicago man lost in the crash of a Cessna 421B (file photo of type, below) on approach to Palwaukee Airport (PWK), seeks damages from everyone from the pilot to the engine overhauler.

Scott Garland, 40, the pilot and two other passengers died in the January 30, 2006 accident.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Garland's suit names pilot Kenneth Knudson, Sybaris Clubs, engine manufacturer Teledyne Industries, and T.W. Smith Engine Co., the firm that overhauled and serviced the engines. Knudson was the owner of Sybaris Clubs, an adult resort chain.

The suit claims that design and manufacturing defects caused the Teledyne engine not to perform properly, that the engines were inadequately tested, and that they were not sold with adequate maintenance and operational instructions.

T.W. Smith Co. is specifically charged with failing to properly inspect, maintain, overhaul, install and test the engine prior to the fatal flight. Attorneys claim Sybaris and Knudson are liable for allowing Garland to fly in the unsafe craft while he was employed as an independent financial advisor for the resort chain.

The suit seeks at least $50,000 on each of 10 counts of negligence and wrongful death.

As Aero-News reported earlier this year, a lawsuit was filed in March on behalf of the estate of Mark Turek, one of the other passengers lost in the fatal accident.

FMI: www.cessna.com, www.sybaris.com