Litigating Inattention  

The family of a CFI who lost his life in a 2022 mid-air collision over the North Las Vegas Airport (VGT) is suing the pilot ostensibly responsible for the accident.

According to a complaint filed in District Court, at approximately 12:00 PDT on 17 July 2022, a Cessna 172N then occupied by flight instructor Anthony Chiaramonti, 40, and student pilot Zach Rainey was struck from behind by a Piper PA-46-350P Malibu piloted by 82-year-old Donald Goldberg. All three men, along with Goldberg’s 76-year-old wife, Carol Scanlon, perished in the mishap.

Speaking on behalf of Chiaramonti’s family, plaintiffs’ attorney Daniel Rose—who characterized the case as “straightforward”—likened the accident to a motor-vehicle rear-end collision.

In an email, Mr. Rose set forth: “One of the fundamental responsibilities of a pilot is to see and avoid other planes. Mr. Goldberg utterly failed to do so when he lined up his plane to land on the wrong runway and flew into the rear of Tony Chiaramonti’s plane, who was landing on the correct runway.”

Attorneys for the trustee of Goldberg’s estate have yet to comment on the case.

In its preliminary report on the occurrence, the National Transportation Safety Board determined Goldberg had been flying with his wife from Idaho to VGT and was advised by Air Traffic Control (ATC) that the active runway at VGT was Runway 30R.

Goldberg acknowledged the ATC transmission, then commenced a visual approach to 30R behind the 172N flown by Chiaramonti and Rainey.

The North Las Vegas Airport is not named as a defendant in the suit insomuch as plaintiffs’ attorneys determined the facility had no culpability vis-à-vis the accident.

Mr. Rose concluded: “Mr. Goldberg’s clear negligence caused Beck Chiaramonti, Tony’s wife, and Tony’s parents significant harms, for which we believe a jury will hold him responsible.”

FMI: https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=jalc