Lawyer breaks down damages in Pelee Island crash lawsuit

CHATHAM The jury has been asked to consider awarding $5.5 million in punitive damages in the civil trial about the tragic crash of Georgian Express flight 126 off Pelee Island in January 2004 that killed the 10 people on board.

Jerry O’brien, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, broke down the specific damages for the three defendants in the civil suit — Georgian Express Ltd., which provided winter air service to Pelee Island; the estate of Wayne Price, the pilot who died in the Jan. 17, 2004, crash; and the Owen Sound Transportation Company, the operator of the Pelee Island ferry that contracted Georgian to provide the winter air service.

Noting no Georgian Express employee was ever reprimanded about the crash and the company only implemented safety measures at the Pelee Island Airport after the disaster, O’brien suggested a stiff $4-million penalty for the air-service provider.

With Price choosing to take off with the Cessna Caravan far exceeding its maximum weight and also being contaminated by ice, O’brien suggested a $1-million penalty for the pilot’s estate.

A $500,000 punishment was suggested for the Owen Sound company for the company’s inaction when notified by an employee of safety concerns about the flight service and for not conducting its own investigation into the deadly crash.

Noting the jury would be acting as a “conscience for the community, “O’brien described the verdict in the case as “the community’s response to this tragedy.”

Bob Love, a lawyer for the defendants, told the six-member jury there was no purpose in awarding punitive damages against Georgian

Express or Price.

He pointed to the report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada into the crash that made no mention of any pressure being put on Price by the company to fly in bad weather.

He questioned why Price would have taken off knowing the plane would have crashed, killing him and his passengers.

Love also asked the jury to take into consideration that “Price paid for the decision he made that day with his life.”

The jury began deliberating late Friday evening.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas Carey told the jury its duty was “to weigh the evidence and come to a conclusion based on what you believe and not believe.”

Carey advised the jury that punitive damages should only be awarded “in an amount no greater than necessary to rationally accomplish the purpose” of deterrence and denunciation.

The plaintiffs in this three-week civil trial — Londoner Paul Brisco, the brother of Robert Brisco, 46, one the eight hunters who died in the crash, and the estate of Robert Brisco — are seeking aggravated and punitive damages.

The defendants had already admitted liability for the crash, one of the worst air disasters in Southwestern Ontario history.

The crash, just minutes after takeoff, killed all 10 on board, including Price, his girlfriend Jamie Levine of Los Angeles, and eight visiting hunters. Robert Brisco, 46, and brothers Ted Reeve, 53, Tom Reeve, 49, all of Chatham; Dr. Jim Allen, 51, of Mitchell’s Bay; Ronald Spencler, 53, and Walter Sadowski, 48, both of Windsor; and Fred Freitas, 38, and Larry Janik, 48, of Kingsville, were returning to Windsor from Pelee Island.