Civil lawsuit begins over 2004 Pelee Island crash

Family of victim suing individuals, firms involved in deadly incident

CHATHAM A jury in a civil trial is expected to start hearing evidence next week about a 2004 plane crash off Pelee Island that killed 10 people in one of the worst air disasters in Southwestern Ontario history.

The family of Bob Brisco, one of the victims, filed the civil lawsuit against Georgian Express Ltd.

There are also multiple individuals named as defendants in the lawsuit as well as the Owen Sound Transportation Company Ltd.

A six-person jury, with two alternates, was selected Tuesday at the Chatham courthouse. Jurors are expected to begin hearing evidence Monday, with the trial expected to last 2½ weeks.

A court official declined Tuesday to provide Postmedia News with the statement of claim filed by Brisco’s family, saying its release could potentially bias jury members before evidence is presented in the civil trial. The same official also cited pretrial motions presently being argued as another reason for not releasing the document.

Brisco, 46, was with friends on a hunting trip with four other men from the Kingsville area when the Cessna Caravan crashed Jan. 17, 2004.

Ronald Spencler, 53, and Walter Sadowski, 48, both of Windsor; Fred Freitas, 38, and Larry Janik, 48, of Kingsville; Brisco, 46, and brothers Ted Reeve, 53, and Tom Reeve, 49, of Chatham; and Dr. Jim Allen, 51, of Mitchell’s Bay were also aboard Georgian Express Flight 126.

Also killed were the pilot, Wayne Price of Richmond Hill, and his fiancee Jamie Levine of Los Angeles.

An investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined that the pilot Price was under stress and sleep-deprived when he decided to take off in a plane that was overloaded with a number of husky men, hunting dogs and luggage and “contaminated” with ice.

The plane, 576 kilograms over the maximum allowable takeoff weight, took off at 4:40 p.m. for the short flight to Windsor Airport. It crashed into the ice of Lake Erie a few minutes later.

In 2014, on the crash’s 10th anniversary, Ronald Spencler’s widow, Diane Spencler, spoke with Postmedia about the tragic crash and its aftermath.

“Each year on the anniversary of that sad event, I silently acknowledge my husband Ron and the tremendous loss my son and I have suffered,” Spencler said.

“I have moved forward with my life since that unfortunate time, but I haven’t forgotten the impact his passing had on us as a family.”

FILES Unidentified debris from a plane sits above the ice, left, on Jan. 18, 2004, as the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay posts itself near the site where a charter flight from Pelee Island to Windsor Airport crashed about a half-mile off the island into Lake Erie, killing 10 people. A civil trial into the 15-year-old crash is to begin Monday.

NICK BRANCACCIO Plane crash investigators aboard the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Samuel Risley lower a remote-operated vehicle into Lake Erie near the crash site on Jan. 20, 2004.

POSTMEDIA NEWS Then Pelee Island mayor Bill Krestel listens as Transportation Safety Board investigators talk about their investigation into the crash of Georgian Express flight 126 at a Jan. 21, 2004 public meeting.