Families Want Multi-Million Dollar Award

Golfer Payne Stewart's attorney says, if he hadn't been killed in a mysterious aviation accident five years ago, he would have made $200 million over the course of his lifetime. With that in mind, Stewart's widow, along with family members of his agent, Robert Fraley, are in court this week, suing Learjet for millions of dollars.

Tracey Stewart accuses Lear of manufacturing a faulty valve that caused the aircraft to depressurize. The aircraft was supposed to take her husband from Orlando to Dallas for a 1999 golf tournament. Instead, escorted by F-16s from the Oklahoma and North Dakota Air National Guard, it flew far into North Dakota before running out of fuel and nosediving into the ground.

But NTSB investigators said all six people on board the Sunjet-owned Lear 35 were dead long before the aircraft went down. Ice caked on the windows of the Lear indicated the plane had depressurized shortly after take-off. All aboard perished for lack of oxygen.

Why the Lear 35 depressurized is still a matter of conjecture.

"The evidence is going to show this case is first and foremost about trust and responsibility," said Daniel Barks, a lead attorney for the families. "Learjet violated that trust.... They wagered the lives of Bob Fraley and Payne Stewart."

Specifically, Barks will try to prove that the mishap was caused by a faulty oxygen outflow valve. The attorney says the valve was poorly designed, improperly tested and built from weak materials.

While Lear's attorneys don't dispute the NTSB finding that the aircraft indeed lost cabin pressure on October 25th, 1999, they say there is no solid information on why.

"This adapter did not fail," said Robert Banker, attorney for Learjet. "There's nothing wrong with that adapter."

Instead, Learjet will blame the aircraft's operator, Sunjet, for failing to properly maintain the aircraft. Sunjet shut down shortly after the accident. They'll also blame pilot Michael Kling's training, saying he may not have known how to respond to sudden depressurization of the cabin.

FMI: NTSB Report