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Wojciechowicz v. United States

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Before Lynch, Chief Judge, Ebel *fn1 and Lipez, Circuit Judges.

Sadly, this court is once again addressing the legal aftermath of a small plane crash killing several people. It has been some years since we last had to decide such a case. See In re N-500L Cases, 691 F.2d 15 (1st Cir. 1982); see also Fed. Express Corp. v. Rhode Island, 664 F.2d 830 (1st Cir. 1981); Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. United States, 561 F.2d 381 (1st Cir. 1977). We affirm the entry of judgment for the United States against plaintiffs’ claim of air traffic controller liability in a highly fact based tort case. On the afternoon of January 5, 2002, a small Cessna Conquest airplane flown by Alexander Wojciechowicz crashed into high terrain in the Carribean National Forest near the El Yunque mountain peak in Puerto Rico. Wojciechowicz and his four passengers, members of his family, were killed. Plaintiffs, who include Wojciechowicz’s surviving relatives, his and his daughter’s estates, the aircraft’s registered owner, and the aircraft’s insurer, sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671, alleging the air traffic controller on duty in San Juan, Marcos Santiago, was negligent.

After a twelve-day bench trial, the district court ultimately found that Santiago could not have reasonably foreseen Wojciechowicz would take the actions he did, which were in direct violation of a pilot’s duties, that Santiago’s actions or inactions were not a proximate cause of the crash, and that Wojciechowicz’s own negligence was the sole cause of the crash. The court also found that the controller had not violated any duty of care; but even if the controller did violate a duty, the court found that any violation did not cause the crash. The judge apportioned no liability to the government. Wojciechowicz v. United States, 576 F. Supp. 2d 241, 278 (D.P.R. 2008).

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