Larsen

Wayne Larsen, Sr., 33, and three others met their deaths in the crash of a privately owned airplane near Phillips Field, adjacent to Pocatello, Idaho, on the night of July 17-18, 1950. The owner of the aircraft, Homer G. Smith, and passengers, Orville Berry and Lawrence Bert Larsen, father of Wayne Larsen, Sr., were the other occupants. No witness has been produced who saw the actual crash. The party of four had gone to Twin Falls, Idaho, late on the afternoon of July 17 in the same aircraft to witness a night baseball game. Twin Falls is some 120 miles from Po-catello. A safe landing at Pocatello was all that was required to complete their trip, the return portion of which was made on a dark night.

Larsen was survived by a wife and an afterborn son, Wayne Larsen, Jr. This claim in negligence was brought by his wife, Helen Joye Larsen, individually and as next friend of the infant son. Mrs. Larsen is the appellee here. The appellant-defendant is the Boise Payette Lumber Company, employer of the deceased owner of the plane, Homer G. Smith. A jury in the district court in Idaho awarded the plaintiff the sum of $75,000. Homer G. Smith, owner of the plane, was a salesman-estimator of…