Info from the AP on the judgement on the Alan Kulwicki lawsuit. A federal court jury on Friday ruled that manufacturers of a plane that crashed and killed NASCAR star Alan Kulwicki and three others were not negligent. The jury awarded no damages to the Insurance Company of North America, Eastern Foods and Hooters of America. The question asked to the jury was whether the plane was unreasonably dangerous. Kulwicki’s Ford Thunderbird(the underbird) car was sponsored by Hooters, a restaurant chain owned by Eastern Foods. Plaintiffs were seeking $1.5 million. The defendants were Allied Signal Inc. and Fairchild Aircraft Inc. AlliedSignal was dropped from the case on March 14, 1997. The Fairchild Merlin aircraft crashed in Blountville, TN in March 1993 as Kulwicki, the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup points champion, was headed to a race in Bristol, TN. The National Transportation Safety Board(NTSB) said the pilot of the plane failed to use the plane’s engine-inlet anti-ice system and ice was sucked into the engines, causing them to fail.(3-22-97)
