Products Liability Law Reporter

Timothy Johnson Jr., 33, was piloting a Cessna 421C aircraft taking off from a Palm Beach, Fla., airport. As the aircraft ascended, its left engine failed, causing the plane to suddenly yaw to the left. It then pitched upward and rolled left before descending vertically, nose-down. The aircraft crashed and caught on fire, killing Johnson. He had been a mechanical engineer working as a business developer, earning at least $140,000 annually. He was recently married at the time of his death and is survived by his wife.

Johnson’s wife, on behalf of his estate, alleged negligence against Continental Motors, Inc., which sold engine component parts to the company that overhauled Johnson’s aircraft three years before the crash. Suit alleged that the defendant had sold a defective torsional viscous damper that led to the crash.

The jury awarded more than $5 million.

Citation: Johnson v. Continental Motors, Inc., No. 13-2014-CA-010782 (Fla. Cir. Ct. Miami-Dade Cnty. Mar. 22, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Ricardo Martinez-Cid and Lea P. Bucciero, both of Miami.

Plaintiff experts: Richard McSwain, metallurgical engineering, and Eric Van Iderstine, mechanical engineering, both of Pensacola, Fla.; Donald Sommer, accident reconstruction, Broomfield, Colo.; and Frederick Raffa, economics, Orlando, Fla.

Defense experts: Bill Brogdon, mechanical engineering, Pensacola; and Terry Horton, airplane mechanics, Silverhill, Ala.