Plane manufacturers sued for wrongful death following crash

Natalie Whitehurst and Victoria Whitehurst Barrow filed a wrongful death suit Oct. 11 in the Cook County Circuit Court against United Technologies Corp., UTC Aeorspace Systems, Pratt & Whitney Canada and Cessna Aircraft Co..

According to the suit, the defendants were the designers and manufacturers of a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft that crashed and killed Stuart and Nadine Whitehurst, both of whom the plaintiffs are heirs of.

On Oct. 14, 2011, Stuart and Nadine Whitehurst took off on a flight departing from the Okavanga Delta in Botswana in the Cessna aircraft. Due to a design failure, the suit alleges, the engines failed upon takeoff, resulting in the aircraft's crashing and the subsequent deaths of the Whitehursts.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages for an amount in excess of the minimum jurisdictional amount of the court, together with costs and such other damages as may be allowed by law.

They are represented by St. Charles attorney Floyd A. Wisner of Wisner Law Firm P.C.

Circuit Court of Cook County Case No. 2013L011317.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.