Remembering Comair Flight 5191: Lexington, Kentucky Crash Results in $7.1 Million Verdict

The recent tragedy involving American Airlines flight 5342 over the Potomac River in Washington, DC is the first commercial plane crash disaster in the United States in over fifteen years. The last time a commercial plane crash in the United States resulted in a jury trial, Bobber, Teich and Pippin partner Michael Teich was on the trial team that secured a landmark $7.1 million jury verdict against the airline.

In the early morning hours of August 27, 2006, Delta Connection Flight 5191, operated by Delta’s partner Comair, crashed during takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky. The Comair regional jet taxied to the wrong runway which was too short to accommodate a commercial airliner. Not realizing their mistake, the flight crew attempted to take off but ran out of runway. The airplane sped off the end of the runway, hitting an embankment and becoming airborne momentarily before crashing into a fence and a row of trees. The plane broke apart and crashed into the ground in flames. The cockpit voice recorder, recovered from the wreckage, revealed that the pilot and co-pilot had violated the “sterile cockpit rule” by engaging in conversation which risked causing distraction during critical moments of the flight operation. The crash killed all 47 passengers and two of the three crew members on board.

One of the passengers that day was Bryan Keith Woodward, a 39-year-old father from Lafayette, Louisiana who was on his way home to his family from a work trip to Kentucky. Unlike the families of the 46 other passengers, all of whom accepted settlements offered by the airline, Mr. Woodward’s family insisted on taking their case against the airline to trial.

Bobber, Teich and Pippin partner Michael Teich was a member of the three-lawyer trial team representing Mr. Woodward’s family. The trial took place in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in December 2009. After several days of trial the jury returned a verdict of $7.1 million for Mr. Woodward’s family.