Christian F. Wyller v. Fairchild Hiller Corporation

This litigation arises from a helicopter crash near Ketchikan, Alaska, in which two persons were killed, a third seriously injured, and the helicopter destroyed. The aircraft was owned by Livingston Copters, Inc. (Livingston) and piloted by Kelly Everett Hays, one of its employees. The plaintiffs are the sole sur viving passenger (Wyller), the adminis-tratrix of the Hays estate, and Livingston. The defendant, Fairchild Hiller Corporation (Fairchild), designed and manufactured the helicopter and a “fail-safe” mechanism with which it was equipped.

Plaintiffs brought their actions in the Superior Court for the State of Alaska. In their complaints they charged Fair-child with negligence, strict product liability and breach of implied warranty. Their common-theory was that the fail-safe mechanism malfunctioned during normal flight and in circumstances which inevitably resulted in the crash of the aircraft. Fairchild removed the actions to the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, where they were consolidated and tried to a jury. At the conclusion of the trial, which extended over a period of some three weeks, the jury returned the verdicts for plaintiffs…