Friday, March 23, 2018

Faulty Piaggio Plane Motor Caused $1.9M Crash, Insurer Says

Case Information 

Case Title

QBE Insurance Corporation v. Piaggio America, Inc. et al

Case Number

9:18-cv-80374

Court

Florida Southern

Nature of Suit

Airplane Product Liability

Judge

Donald M. Middlebrooks

Date Filed

March 23, 2018

Companies

Piaggio & C. SpA
QBE Insurance Group

Government Agencies
Federal Aviation Administration

The case is QBE Insurance Corp. vs. Piaggio America Inc. et al., case number 9:18-cv-80374 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Law360 (March 23, 2018, 4:43 PM EDT) -- An aircraft owner's insurer hit aircraft manufacturer Piaggio Aerospace and its American subsidiary with a suit on Friday in Florida federal court alleging that Piaggio designed a defective plane motor that caused a 2016 crash and cost the insurer $1.9 million. 

The insurer, QBE Insurance Corp., alleged that a defect in a Piaggio Avanti II airplane’s electrical motor that was powering its hydraulic system caused the plane’s landing gear to malfunction when arriving at California’s San Jose Airport in March of 2016, resulting in a property damage settlement worth $1.9 million that the insurer paid.

"The crash ... and the resulting damages to plaintiff were caused in whole or in part by the negligence of the Piaggio defendants," the insurer said.

In 2009, Piaggio designed and installed into an aircraft the motor that allegedly failed during the 2016 crash, the suit said. Piaggio America Inc. then sold the aircraft with the motor to an unnamed purchaser in the United States, who subsequently bought an aviation insurance policy from QBE, according to the complaint.

After the crash, QBE was on the hook for repair costs and expenses related to the retrieval, transportation, storage and loss of use of the airplane, the suit said.

QBE is arguing that Piaggio caused the crash by negligently designing and manufacturing a faulty motor. The insurer noted the Federal Aviation Administration evaluated the motor in 2013 as part of an inspection that is required to be conducted after every 600 hours of flight time, according to the complaint.

The crash occurred just 350 hours of flight time after the most recent inspection, the insurer said.

"As a direct and proximate result of the defects and premature failure of the drive motor, the aircraft owner suffered damages and losses, including, without limitation, substantial physical damage to its airplane and costs for retrieval, transportation, storage, repairs and loss of use of the airplane following the crash," the complaint said, noting that QBE paid those costs.

QBE Insurance is alleging strict liability and negligence and seeking damages.

A representative for Piaggio and counsel for QBE didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

QBE is represented by William G. Burd.

Counsel information for Piaggio was not immediately available on Friday.

Original article can be found here ➤ https://www.law360.com









Piaggio P-180 Avanti, N871AT, Monolithic Power Systems, Inc

Incident occurred March 24, 2016 at San Jose International Airport (KSJC), Santa Clara County, California Aircraft gear collapsed on landing. 

http://registry.faa.gov/N871AT

Date: 24-MAR-16 
Time:  19:00:00Z
Regis#:  N871AT
Aircraft Make:  PIAGGIO
Aircraft Model:  P180
Event Type:  Incident
Highest Injury:  None
Damage:  Minor
Flight Phase:  LANDING (LDG)
City:  SAN JOSE 
State:  California

3 comments:

  1. This is interesting. Can you imagine what would happen to aviation if every insurance company sued the manufacturers and suppliers when an accident is caused due to equipment failure? Maybe it occurs more than I realize.

    ReplyDelete
  2. QBE is a bottom feeder and a very unethical company, hit themselves with countless class action lawsuits.
    As a homeowner Chase bank made me carry this POS homeowners insurance from them and they paid me a small fraction of a major repair needed.
    Look up the forums and their rating, which is sub zero. It is a company built on lies and deceipt and petty technicalities.
    If Martin Skhreli founded an insurance company... it would be QBE!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes QBE is a POS company. Every unethical trick in the books.

    I am suing them already after they refused to pay my repairs for a construction defect.

    Yet... oh the double standard, when they have to actually pay their fair share they sue. I hope Piaggio wins!

    ReplyDelete