Wrongful-death suit filed by Heinz Kerry settled for $15 million

centredaily.com ^ | 10/24/05 | ap

[bitt]

PHILADELPHIA - A lawsuit filed by Teresa Heinz Kerry after her first husband, U.S. Sen. John Heinz, died in a midair collision in 1991 was settled for $15 million, according to newly unsealed court records.

Last year, attorneys for The Philadelphia Inquirer sought to unseal the settlement papers when U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., ran for president; Kerry married Heinz's widow in 1995.

At first, attorneys for the Heinz estate tried to prevent the Montgomery County Court records from being unsealed, citing the family's need for security and privacy.

In October 2004, Montgomery County Judge Paul Tressler unsealed portions of the file. Attorneys for the Heinz estate appealed his ruling.

The case was settled this month, according to William H. Lamb, the West Chester attorney who represented the Heinz estate.

SNIP

The 1997 settlement states that $3 million would go to Heinz Kerry as co-executor of the Heinz estate. The remaining $12 million was paid to Heinz Kerry and the couple's three sons, John IV, Andrew and Christopher, according to court records.

In 1991, Teresa Heinz sued the owners of the airplane on which her husband was traveling, as well as the owners of the helicopter involved in the crash.

The impact, which killed Sen. Heinz and six others - including two first-graders on the ground - occurred over a Lower Merion school in April 1991.

The wrongful-death lawsuit alleged that the owner of the helicopter, Sun Co. Inc., of Philadelphia; and Lycoming Air Services Inc., of Montoursville, Lycoming County, the plane's owner, had failed to properly train their flight crews.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, errors in judgment by pilots of both aircraft caused the crash.

[bitt]

harpy wife of LT got MORE money - yeah, she needed it....

[ncountylee]

$ 500 million is never enough.

[opinionator]

What did the families of the little kids get? Zip?

[spyone]

Unbelievable...bet the families of the two dead kids on the ground got nothing.

[doug from upland]

If John had not died, I wonder what rich woman Kerry would have found.

[bitt]

'Heinz and six other people were killed on April 4, 1991, when a Bell 412 SP helicopter collided with the Senator's Piper Aerostar plane over a schoolyard in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. All aboard the two aircraft and two children playing outside the school were killed. The helicopter had been dispatched to check out a problem Heinz's plane was having with its landing gear. While moving in for a closer look, the helicopter's rotor blades struck the bottom of the plane, causing both aircraft to lose control and crash.'

OKAY. The plane gets in trouble. A helicoptor is dispatched to help out. They crash. She sues because the 'operators weren't trained well enough' Seems witchy to me.

[bluefish]

OKAY. The plane gets in trouble. A helicoptor is dispatched to help out. They crash. She sues because the 'operators weren't trained well enough' Seems witchy to me.

Yeah, evil witches like her is why Good Samaritan laws have to be written.

[bitt]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5528578/

here's a great Brokaw interview with her just before her speech to the Dem Convention....she is just...totally...nuts.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Time for a refreshing re-hash of 1990s FAA records, anyone?

[TheCrusader]

" The plane gets in trouble. A helicoptor is dispatched to help out. They crash. She sues because the 'operators weren't trained well enough' Seems witchy to me."

People suing people, it's the American way to riches.

[Calpernia]

ping

[Suzy Quzy]

Hope she gave it all to the little kids families. Yeah, I'm SURE she did.

[digger48]

And JF'nK is blowin' it all on Botox

[Brian Allen]

<< http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5528578/

here's a great Brokaw interview with her just before her speech to the Dem Convention....she is just...totally...nuts. >>

She's an habitual drunkard.

Quite likely an alcoholic.

Only a gigolo would put up with the loony cow.

[zip]

ping

[fish hawk]

Babs Streisand?

[Aeronaut]

[GretchenM]

marker

[Southack]

Here are the two government reports on that crash:
http://www8.landings.com/cgi-bin/nph-nntsb_connect?pass=77233446&file=nntsb_199104.dat&pos=246642

http://www8.landings.com/cgi-bin/nph-nntsb_connect?pass=77233446&file=nntsb_199104.dat&pos=250379

[Southack]

"The helicopter had been dispatched to check out a problem Heinz's plane was having with its landing gear. While moving in for a closer look, the helicopter's rotor blades struck the bottom of the plane, causing both aircraft to lose control and crash.'"

A helicopter "flies" by creating low pressure above it and high pressure beneath it.

Moving a low pressure zone directly beneath an airplane will cause that aircraft to fall a bit or stall.

You'd have to have two pilots who didn't understand aerodynamics for that situation to occur.

That being said, suing companies for hiring such people is a bit out of line.

[prairiebreeze]

disgusted ping

[johnny7]

I don't think she's an alcoholic... but I think she's on some combination of prescription depressants.

[wolfcreek]

It's really expensive sponsoring a loser.

[bitt]

LT ping - fyi

[Calpernia]

Also, why didnt the plane move away from the school?

[SheLion]

harpy wife of LT got MORE money - yeah, she needed it....

Makes me sick.  Ranging from England through the east coast and DC.

The following pictures of the homes that FnKerry and she own........

 

 

 

 

[Delta 21]

Who needs insurance when you have high priced lawyers.

[johnny7]

Did the chopper get too close... or did the jet?

[mtntop3]

The structures own her and her family, not the other way around - a veritable curse manifested in her unhappiness and that of her family including Kerry.

[hattend]

bump for later

[SheLion]

The structures own her and her family, not the other way around - a veritable curse manifested in her unhappiness and that of her family including Kerry.

I know you are right.  I just wonder how she can not find embarrassment in this being in the media, and we all know how they live.  Maybe she will have a kind hearted moment and donate some of that money to the Red Cross??

[USMCPOP]

Ketchup sales must be way down. Maybe she'll donate some to the Red Cross.

[Cliff Dweller]

That's like asking what was first the chicken or the egg...

When you have a Helo that flys by beating the air into submission, and an airplane that flys by parting the stream...

Okay, really as previously mentioned a helicopter crates lift by creating a low pressure area above the rotor blades and a high pressure area beneath the rotor blades. An airplane creates lift by the air traveling faster over the wing (creating a low pressure area) than under the wing (high pressure); Hence they both added to it or got there at the same point, neither could really be first.

The plane was sucked into the helo as the helo was sucked into the plane.

[Inwoodian]

" I was a $500 million dollar gigolo before I was a $515 million dollar gigolo."

[johnny7]

That's like asking what was first the chicken or the egg... the plane was sucked into the helo as the helo was sucked into the plane.

That was kind'a my point... a 15M settlement makes it look like the chopper pilot was a kamakazee.

[Cliff Dweller]

Dead men tell no tales.... JFnK and THK like it that way

[pepperdog]

That's what I'd like to know, what did the other's in this case get?

[Piquaboy]

Theys a whole lot of sucking going on.

[Tallguy]

No good deed...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

"When you have a Helo that flys by beating the air into submission, and an airplane that flys by parting the stream..."



What did the helicopter pilot know, and when did he know it?



Here are the two government reports on that crash:
http://www8.landings.com/cgi-bin/nph-nntsb_connect?pass=77233446&file=nntsb_199104.dat&pos=246642

http://www8.landings.com/cgi-bin/nph-nntsb_connect?pass=77233446&file=nntsb_199104.dat&pos=250379

Thanks for the links, Southack

[weegee]

And yet she complains that Americans don't pay enough taxes.

Hope she puts that money to some good use. < /sarcasm >

[mewzilla]

Wonder how much she'll pay in taxes?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

harpy wife of LT got MORE money - yeah, she needed it....


...to give the LT a nice Christmas, 'scusa me, Holiday, bonus.

[mtntop3]

She - they - will assuredly donate a significant amount of this to probably more than one "charitable" recipient.

This will assure less taxes (though apparently not much is being paid now vis-a-vis write-offs).

Most importantly, it would be viewed negatively by the public if she - they - didn't. Their perception of the public's perception of them is everything - an important reason why they have these monolithic dwellings in the first place.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Thank God Tay-Ray-za is not our First Lady!!!!!!!

[bitt]

Sorry folks, the money has already been added to the pot long ago - the news here is that the information WAS FINALLY RELEASED!!!! from 1997!

' The 1997 settlement states that $3 million would go to Heinz Kerry as co-executor of the Heinz estate. The remaining $12 million was paid to Heinz Kerry and the couple's three sons, John IV, Andrew and Christopher, according to court records.'

[kylaka]

Isn't 20% as CO-executor of an estate pretty high? I thought 5% was the norm as sole Executor.