Law Firm of Motley Rice LLC - Motley Rice LLC Files Suit in Connection With Seaplane Crash Off the Coast of Miami

One of the largest aviation litigation firms in the U.S., Motley Rice LLC, today announced that they have filed a $100,000,000 suit against Flying Boats Inc., operating under the name Chalk's Airlines Inc., and its owner James Confalone, on behalf of the family of Michele Marks, pilot in the fatal crash of Chalk's Airlines Flight 101, which took place on December 19, 2005 off the coast of Miami, Florida.

The 58 year-old twin-engine Grumman G-73T seaplane was originally manufactured in 1947, and en route from Miami to the Bahamian island of Bimini at the time of the crash. Shortly after the plane took off from Chalk's Watson's Island seaplane base, the right wing fell off and the plane crashed into the federal waterway, Government Cut, entry to the Port of Miami.

A post-crash investigation revealed that the right wing separated near where the wing connected to the fuselage, and that there was visible evidence of fatigue cracking and corrosion on the wing spar. Motley Rice investigators have also discovered that in 1991 the plane was found to have light corrosion on the right wing. Despite the discovery of corrosion on the wing spar 15 years ago, it is alleged that the aircraft was not properly inspected, maintained, repaired, overhauled or removed from service and replaced with more airworthy aircraft.

"Chalk's Airlines had a duty to its employees and its passengers to undertake the highest degree of care to keep its planes airworthy and safe. Clearly they fell short of this duty," stated Motley Rice attorney and former U.S. Inspector General for the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., Mary Schiavo. "When you're operating a 58 year-old aircraft it is imperative that a rigorous aging aircraft inspection and maintenance program is followed. Old airplanes are such a risk that the aviation industry even has a term for them tired iron.' This tired iron should have been retired."

Motley Rice attorney Marlon Kimpson agreed, stating, "I am especially outraged because so many of the victims in this and other tired iron' crashes are minorities and people of modest means. It is unfortunate that we have a trickle down' aviation industry allowing old planes to trickle down to those who have no alternatives for better transportation."

Motley Rice's Florida aviation attorney, J.B. Harris added, "It's been reported that South Florida is particularly vulnerable to lax inspection, shoddy maintenance and suspect aircraft parts. Particularly suspect is Mr. Confalone's ownership interest in certain airline parts and maintenance suppliers which may have provided parts and maintenance to the doomed aircraft. With this litigation, we aim to get to the bottom of this deadly malaise."

This case was filed in Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County, Florida and included the following defendants (all owned by Chalk's owner James Confalone): Chalk's Airlines, Inc., Flying Boat, Inc., Flying Boat Parts, Inc., Seaplane Adventures, LLC, K & J Aircraft Parts, Inc., Bimini Landing, Inc., Florida Air Shuttle, Inc., Okeechobee Jet Center, Inc., Seaplane Leasing, I, LLC, Seaplane Leasing II, LLC, Seaplane Leasing III, LLLC, Seaplane Leasing IV, LLC, Seaplane Leasing V, LLC, Seaplane Leasing VI, LLC, The Airport, Inc., The Charge Station, Inc., The Fuel Farm, Inc., The Oil Change, Inc., The Shuttle, Inc., U.S. Distributors, Inc., Worldwide Aviation Distributors, Inc., Dean H. Franklin Aviation Enterprises, Inc., and James H. Confalone, individually. For more information on Motley Rice's aviation disaster litigation, please visit http://aviation.motleyrice.com/.