Result: Verdict, $9,140,000
Helicopter crash
Los Angeles Superior Court
February 22, 1996
William Fife and Joe Cook were piloting a Bell 214B1 heavy lift helicopter during a logging operation near Dora Bay, Alaska. The helicopter was carrying a load of logs when its right cyclic dual hydraulic servo actuator failed. As soon as Mr. Fife and Mr. Cook recognized the failure, the pilots tried to drop the load. The cargo hook, however, stuck and the load would not release. With a full load and broken actuator, the helicopter became uncontrollable and crashed, killing both pilots.
The families turned to The O'Reilly Law Firm for help. Bell offered to settle. The O'Reilly Law Firm rejected Bell's offers as inadequate and proceeded to trial, even though, according to Bell's attorney, the company had not lost a trial in 15 years.
At trial, Bell argued that its actuator failed because of poor maintenance in the field, not because of faulty design. It also argued that the pilots could have saved themselves had they not delayed setting the helicopter down after noticing the failure. According to Bell, the pilots' reaction times had been impaired by marijuana use.
The O'Reilly Law Firm showed that the helicopter had been poorly maintained because the maintenance manuals that Bell supplied with the helicopter were confusing. As for the pilots' "delay" in reacting to the emergency, had the pilots set the helicopter down immediately it would have killed people on the ground. Finally, the marijuana showing up in the pilot's toxicological tests was consistent with second-hand smoke.
The jury ruled in favor of the families and against Bell on all counts, awarding the pilots' families $9,140,000.
