$15M Jury Verdict

When a Beech Bonanza’s Continental IO-550 engine failed in cruise flight and forced an emergency landing, the NTSB investigation cleared the engine manufacturer and blamed the mechanic who had last worked on the aircraft. Danko Meredith took a different view.

Mike Danko and Kristine Meredith investigated the engine’s design and maintenance history and built a case against Teledyne Continental Motors — the manufacturer the NTSB had exonerated. The jury agreed with the analysis presented by the firm’s experts, not the NTSB’s, and returned a verdict of $15 million for the client, who had suffered a severe brain injury in the crash landing. (Burdett v. Teledyne Continental Motors)