Jury awards Carnahan family $4 million in negligence suit

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Both sides claimed victory Friday after a Jackson County jury found airplane parts manufacturer Parker Hannifin Corp. negligent in the plane crash that killed the late Gov. Mel Carnahan and his son in 2000.

After a two-month trial and three full days of deliberation, the jury awarded compensatory damages of $3 million for the death of Mel Carnahan and $1 million for Randy Carnahan's death. However, the jury did not find reason to award punitive damages against the company.

The Carnahan family had sought $100 million against the company, arguing that a pair of vacuum pumps the company made failed and caused the plane to crash on Oct. 16, 2000. Killed were pilot Randy Carnahan, his father and Chris Sifford, a longtime aide to the governor.

Justice served

"Justice was served today," said Mel Carnahan's widow, Jean Carnahan. "My son was found not responsible for the death of my husband."

Attorneys for Parker Hannifin, based in Cleveland, argued that the vacuum pumps did not fail, and blamed the crash on the failure of the pilot's attitude indicator. The indicator tells a pilot whether the plane is banking and whether the nose is high or low. That failure, on a rainy night, caused Randy Carnahan to become disoriented, the company said.

Lorrie Paul Crum, spokeswoman for Parker Hannifin, said the company was satisfied with the verdict and did not plan to appeal.

"It's clear to us that this was a compromise verdict," Crum said. "We came here not for money but to vindicate Parker's good name, and we feel that's been accomplished with this verdict."

The family has settled with several other defendants for a combined total of more than $1 million. Crum said the amount that Parker Hannifin has to pay the Carnahans will be reduced from $4 million by the amount the other companies have already paid. She estimated that would be between $2.6 million and $2.8 million.

The Carnahans scoffed at Parker Hannifin's contention that it was vindicated by the small amount of damages awarded.

"They were found to be at fault," Mrs. Carnahan said. "This case was never about money. It was about holding Parker Hannifin responsible for so many deaths over the years."

Mel Carnahan was running for the U.S. Senate seat held by John Ashcroft at the time of his death; on the night of the crash, the Carnahans and Sifford were headed to a campaign event in New Madrid, Mo. Mel Carnahan beat Ashcroft, now the U.S. attorney general, posthumously and his wife was named to the seat.

During the trial, Robb told jurors that federal investigators found that Parker Hannifin vacuum pumps failed in 20 other plane crashes, killing 46 people, between 1981 to 1998. He said the company knew the pumps could fail at any time but continued to manufacture the pumps until shortly after the Carnahan crash.

The company sent warnings to pilots suggesting they install a backup system for the vacuum pumps and said it frequently urged the Federal Aviation Administration to make the backup systems mandatory, but the government agency declined to do so.

Parker Hannifin's attorney, Mitchel Kallet, told jurors in his closing statement that a federal investigation found the pumps were probably working at the time of the crash. The investigation said one attitude indicator failed for unknown reasons, causing Randy Carnahan to become disoriented while trying to read the indicator on the co-pilot side.

Jean Carnahan and her three remaining children -- Tom, Russ and Robin -- testified during the trial about the impact of the loss of their husband, father and brother on their lives. Gov. Bob Holden also testified.