Brett A. Panter handled a case for a passenger in a small private airplane that occurred in March 2018.
Panter, Panter & Sampedro vigorously pursued the case against several culpable parties. Through our diligent and persistent work, we were able to obtain three separate settlements. They are as follows:
The case was initially brought against the pilot and the owner of the aircraft and was successfully settled for a confidential amount, prior to even bringing a lawsuit.
Following this, the case against one of the maintenance facilities involved in the maintenance of the aircraft was also settled for a confidential amount.
Finally, in May 2021 a third lawsuit against the maintenance company that had been working on the magnetos prior to the time of the takeoff and catastrophic crash was also settled.
The facts in this case are that in March 2018, our client was a passenger in a Piper PA 32 –
300 small private airplane operated by a flying club out of the Pompano Beach Airpark in Pompano Beach, Florida. Our client was pilot rated but was not operating the plane. At the time of the crash, the flight conditions were known as visual meteorological conditions and all visual flight rules applied. The plane was destined for Marsh Harbor International Airport in the Bahamas when on takeoff, the pilot reported that the engine’s manifold pressure was dropping, and the engine sounded irregular.
The passenger who is the client of Panter, Panter and Sampedro told the pilot to attempt to return to the airport immediately. Despite returning to the airport, the pilot reported that although he had the throttle level pulled back, the engine was developing full power. The plane bounced several times on the runway.
The pilot attempted to pull the mixtures control to cut off but stated it didn’t appear to shut off the engine, so he pushed the mixture to full rich and pushed the throttle lever for another takeoff. The attempt to take off was unsuccessful and the plane climbed briefly and then continued to lose altitude, striking the airport ramp in front of a hangar and the airplane impacted two fences before coming to a rest upright with massive damage to the airplane and injuries to our client.
Brett Panter is a commercial multi-engine, commercial instrument rated pilot with over 3000 hours of experience and has been flying many types of aircrafts since 1977. He was asked to handle this case by longtime friend and referring lawyer, Paul Finizio from Fort Lauderdale. Mr. Panter investigated and prosecuted this claim against three separate entities and ultimately the case was settled for confidential amounts against each entity.
Mr. Panter has been involved in representing numerous cases of private airplane crashes and airplane litigation throughout his career. He brings special personalized knowledge of aviation to each one of these cases. Most plane crash cases are a result of multiple causes and different parties.
Mr. Panter’s lifetime of flying experience helped him help his client attain maximum recoveries from all entities involved.
