Family Attorneys Livid, Sue For Payment Of Legal Fees

By ANN Reporter Juan Jimenez

Former Senator Jean Carnahan, wife of the late Gov. Mel Carnahan (right), has made legal history by returning the $4 million award that a Kansas City jury awarded her and members of her family against Parker-Hannafin. The award was meant to compensate the Carnahan's for the alleged negligence of Parker and several other defendants in the death of her husband, the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, her son Randy and a third party travelling in Randy's Cessna 335 when it crashed during the worst weather seen in the state in quite some time.

Even though the NTSB board had found that the most likely cause for the crash was Randy's inability to retain to control of the aircraft, as well as a possible problem with the main attitude indicator, Ms. Carnahan had insisted for quite some time that she would not tolerate such a final report. To make good on her statement, she instructed her lawyers to sue Parker-Hannafin for $100 million for the alleged failure of the vacuum pumps on the aircraft, even though the system was determined to be working perfectly at the time of the crash.

Basing its case on previous alleged failures, the Carnahan's attorney's managed to convince the jury that there might be some responsibility on the part of Parker, a $6 billion, 46,000 employee worldwide aviation products company. However, even though the judge, a Carnahan appointee, did his very best to prevent information positive to the defense case from being introduced into evidence, the jury was not quite as convinced as the Carnahan's of the issue. In the end, they awarded a total of only $4 million, and then again only 70% of that was determined to be the responsibility of Parker-Hannafin. The company decided that the award was a huge moral victory, and decided not to appeal, forcing the Carnahan's and their attorneys to accept a payday 25 times less than they expected.

However, just yesterday, in an astounding turn of events, Ms. Carnahan called a press conference in front of the very same courthouse where she received the award to announce that after very careful consideration, she had decided to return the award to the defendants. "After giving this entire, sad issue very careful and painful thought, I have decided that were my son here, he would not have approved of how the aftermath of this tragic accident was handled," stated Ms. Carnahan.

For their part, the attorneys for the Carnahan family have announced that they have filed a lawsuit in Kansas City against their clients for payment of legal fees. US Attorney General John Ashcroft, who lost an election to the US Senate from Missouri to the late Gov. Carnahan after the crash, rolled his eyes and sighed but otherwise had no comment.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.parker.com