A jury in Lexington, Kentucky, awarded $7.1 Million to the family of a 39-year-old man killed when Comair Flight 5191 took off from the wrong runway at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport on August 27, 2006. After a four-day trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, the jury of eight returned the verdict in favor of the estate and daughters of Bryan Keith Woodward, who was en route from a business trip to his Louisiana home that morning. The pilots of Comair Flight 5191 took off from a runway too short for a commercial jet, and in the early morning hours of August 27, the airplane crashed and caught fire not far from the runway shortly after takeoff, killing forty-nine people on board. This case was tried by the aviation attorneys at Rapoport Law Offices, P.C. including lead trail lawyer David Rapoport, Paul Richter and Michael Teich.
The jury awarded damages to Mr. Woodward’s two daughters for the loss of his companionship and affection, as well as damages to the family for the loss of his ability to earn money, and for the pain and suffering he experienced in the time before his death. A second trial on punitive damages will be decided by a different jury at a later date, as dictated by Senior United States District Judge Karl S. Forester, who presided over this phase and will preside over the punitive phase.