Said Accident, Which Occurred in Oklahoma, Happened Too Long Ago

The Alabama Supreme Court says that Teledyne Continental Motors has waited too long to try to recover legal fees and court costs from the manufacturer of an engine component that was implicated in an accident which fatally injured three people.

The three fatally injured were Harland Brent Stonecipher, who was employed as a pilot by Pre-Paid Legal Services, now known as LegalShield; his wife Tina and his 11-year-old daughter Nicole. The NTSB found in its probable cause report that the Cessna 310 Stonecipher was flying suffered a loss of engine power as a result of a fatigue fracture in one of the crankshaft gear teeth for undetermined reasons. Also causal was the pilot's failure to maintain control of the twin-engine airplane after the power loss, which resulted in an inadvertent stall and subsequent collision with terrain.

Continental at the time tried to recreate the manufacturing process that could have led to the failure of the gear, but was unable to do so. The NTSB said the cause of the gear tooth failure could not be determined. The company eventually settled the first lawsuit brought in 2007.

The Insurance Journal reports that Continental sued the company which manufactured the crankshaft that failed in 2011, saying the part did not meet its specifications. A judge initially ruled that Alabama's two-year statute of limitations did not apply, using the standard of six years for contract claims.

But this week, the Alabama Supreme Court disagreed, saying the two-year limit should apply, and dismissed the case. Continental had no comment on the ruling.

FMI: http://judicial.alabama.gov/supreme.cfm