A Weld County District judge abused his discretion by tossing out a jury verdict and ordering a new civil trial in a case in which a pilot and four members of a family died in a plane crash following a near mid-air plane collision, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled.
When Weld County District Judge Todd Taylor ruled in 2016 that a jury erred in finding neither pilot at fault, he himself was in error, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday.
Judge Taylor overstepped his bounds by declaring that a jury’s verdict was a “miscarriage of justice” and ordering a new trial “solely because (he) disagrees with the jury’s verdict,” the ruling says. The Colorado Supreme Court sent the case back to district court for further proceedings in accord with their decision.
The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision comes even though the National Transportation Safety Board on pilot Oliver Frascona, 67. But the NTSB’s determination didn’t come until months after the civil trial in April of 2016.
The civil case stems from a near mid-air collision on Aug. 31, 2014, at Erie Municipal Airport. The airport is “uncontrolled,” meaning that it does not have a control tower to monitor incoming and outgoing air traffic.
On Aug. 31, 2014, Frascona, 67, was flying his Piper PA 46 Malibu with passengers Tori Rains-Wedan, 41, and her three sons — Mason, 15, and twin brothers Austin and Hunter, 11.
As Frascona was approaching an asphalt runway in order to land, Joseph Lechtanski was taking off in another plane at the other end of the same runway.
“The two planes nearly collided mid-air,” the ruling says. To avoid the collision, Lechtanski veered right, and Frascona attempted an aborted landing maneuver by overflying the runway. But in doing so, Frascona’s plane stalled and crashed, killing everyone aboard.
Bjorn Wedan, the father of the three boys, and Wilson Rains, Tori Rains-Wedan’s father, filed a lawsuit against both Lechtanski and Frascona’s estate for wrongful death.
Judge Taylor’s jury instructions indicated that the six-member jury could find either, both or neither of the pilots negligent and therefore responsible for the crash. The jury entered a verdict that did not find either pilot responsible for the crash.
The plaintiffs appealed the jury decision, claiming that it was an “irregularity.” Taylor sided with them, saying that the “jury misunderstood its role” and were possibly confused. He ordered a new trial.
“The evidence does not support the jury’s verdict that neither pilot was negligent,” Taylor had ruled. “Based on the evidence presented at trial, the undisputed facts must result in a verdict implicating one or both pilots as the negligent cause of the crash.”
The Colorado Supreme Court indicated that Taylor failed to offer reasons why the jury verdict was an “irregularity.” For example, an irregularity could include misconduct of the jury. The jury instructions included an option that cleared both pilots of responsibility, the ruling says.
“However, we conclude that there is no evidence in the record of the jury misunderstanding its role… Accordingly, we hold that the trial court abused its discretion in granting a new trial,” the ruling says.
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