A recent balloon crash in Lockhart is raising all sorts of liability questions that do not have any immediate answers.
Considered the country’s worst balloon crash to date, the incident at Lockhart two weeks ago took the lives of all 16 people aboard a hot air balloon that caught fire and crashed in a field just outside the city.
Although Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, the balloon’s owner, has insurance, it is unlikely if the policy can cover for all the damages the families of the victims are asking for, reported the
American-Statesman.
According to the
American-Statesman, standard balloon operator insurance policies (carried by 95% of operators, claimed the country’s largest balloon insurer) have limits of $100,000 per person for bodily injury, with an average cap of $1 million per episode.
This could mean that the families of the 16 victims, including the pilot’s family, would have to split over $1 million.
A spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance said that there is no federally mandated aviation insurance and the Texas insurance code has nothing related to it, either. Some states, such as California, require commercial aviation insurance by law.
While the cause of the crash has yet to be determined by authorities, liability for the accident has been equally hard to pin on, as well.
Investigators told
The Wall Street Journal that the pilot, Alfred “Skip” Nichols, was aiming to descend immediately through a break in clouds, but failed to realize the power lines below. They also said that there was no evidence of any pre-existing failures, malfunctions, or problems with the balloon involved in the accident.
The
American-Statesman reported that Nichols had been previously convicted four times of drunken driving and for drug distribution; while the offenses prevented him from operating a car, he could still operate a balloon.
Despite this fact, federal investigators said that there is no indication so far that alcohol was involved in the crash.
Families seeking compensation beyond the pilot’s insurance or the life insurance of the victims will likely investigate whether liability goes beyond the pilot.
The maintenance crew behind the balloon could be held liable, for instance, said Austin-based attorney Michael Sean Quinn. Quinn also suggested that the owners of the supposed power lines the balloon collided with could also be held liable.
“The balloon didn’t just fall out of air; it ran into wires,” he said. “There could be lawsuits brought against the owners of the wires — accusations they did something wrong or failed to do something right.”
“[There is] potentially no real recovery back,” said plane crash lawyer William Angelley, from Dallas. “Families are most likely going to be limited by this small policy. It’s a horrible, horrible deal.”
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