But Will Profit If Other Suits Are Successful

Communications tower owner SpectraSite has dropped its lawsuit against the Canadian widow of a pilot who crashed into its tower three years ago. But don't think the company did so out of the kindness of its heart.

"It was actually a misunderstanding of Canadian law," Jean-Francois Lebrun, Canadian spokesman for the North Carolina-based company, told the Canadian Press. "They (Spectra officials) have given orders to their lawyers today to dismiss the case against the estate and they'll go strictly with the insurance company."

Instead, SpectraSite will benefit from the other lawsuits already filed by broadcasters against the estate of Gilbert Paquett. If they win, SpectraSite automatically wins as well.

Three years ago this month, his Cessna slammed into a broadcast tower in central Quebec. His body and the wreckage remained tangled in the tower's structure for five days until a demolition crew was able to recover them.

But that still leaves four other lawsuits pending against widow Francoise Jolin, who said she was stunned to learn that she and her three college-age children are the targets of $4.1 million in claims.

"It's a very sad story," said Lebrun, "and we didn't want to put any extra pressure on her or extra grief. She didn't need that but it's done now and we are trying to do better."

In a statement released to ANN, SpectraSite president Stephen Clark apologized for filing the suit in the first place. "Our deepest sympathy remains with the family of Mr. Paquette," he wrote.

FMI: www.copa.ca