Date: 06-06-2009

Case Style: Estate of Jim Kosak v. Cirrus Design Corp., University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation and the Estate of Gary Prokop

Case Number:

Judge: David TenEyck

Court: District Court, Itasca County, Minnesota

Plaintiff's Attorney: Daniel O’Fallon, Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Phil Sieff

Defendant's Attorney: Ed Matonich, Matonich & Persson, Chartered, Hibbing, Minnesota for the Prokop Estate.

Description: The Estate of Kim Kosak sued Cirrus Design Corp., University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation and Estate of Gary Prokop on a negligence theory for the wrongful death of Kosak, age 51, as a result of a plane crash on January 18, 2003. The National Transportation Safety Board investigation concluded the the cause of the crash was pilot error. Plaintiffs claimed that Krokop had not been properly trained to fly the aircraft for IFR conditions by the University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation which has contracted to provide the pilot training. Prokop and Kasak were flying from Grand Rapids to St. Cloud to watch their sons play in a hockey tournament when the crash occurred south of Hill City.

Prokops' Estate cross claimed against Cirrus and the University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation.

Prokops purchased the plane from Cirrus but has limited experience flying the SR-22 aircraft. His family claimed that he had not been property trained to fly the aircraft.

The defenses asserted by Cirrus and the University are not available.

Outcome: Plaintiffs' verdict for $19 million with a finding that Cirrus and the University were each 37.5 percent at fault and Prokops was 25 percent at fault. Prokops' estate was awarded $9 million. Kosak's estate was awarded $7.4 million.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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