Pete DeMahy and Orlando Cabeza

DeMahy Labrador Drake Victor Rojas Cabeza

Milliken & Co., a textile company, faced a $18 million lawsuit filed by the family of one of five passengers killed when a corporate jet crashed into a utility pole on its property.

The Beechcraft Premier aborted a landing at Thomson-McDuffie County Airport in Georgia before crashing.

Other defendants settled, but the textile company retained DeMahy Labrador Drake Victor Rojas Cabeza in Coral Gables and Drew Eckl & Farnham in Atlanta to take the case to trial. They won a defense verdict in August after a two-week trial.

The estate of Heidi McCorkle, a 28-year-old mother of two who died in the 2013 crash, claimed Milliken agreed to limit any obstructions in the airport easement to 50 feet when it was granted in 1989 and the plane hit the pole at about 58 or 59 feet.

The DeMahy Labrador trial team led by partners Pete DeMahy and Orlando Cabeza maintained Milliken relied on the expertise of Georgia Power Co., the state's largest utility company, to build the pole.

The plaintiff's theory was simple: no pole, no crash.

The defense accident reconstruction expert testified the plane hit the pole well below the glide path, and an aviation expert blamed the crash on pilot error based on a series of bad decisions.

DeMahy told jurors in closing argument that it was a “doomed flight.”

After the verdict was delivered, DeMahy attributed the decision to evidence about pilot fatigue, the point of impact and the tower being in place for 24 years with regular Federal Aviation Administration flyovers to check for obstructions.