combat404 said:Even if you win, you will probably be bankrupt from paying the cost of litigation.
combat404 said:I am a CA lawyer, thinking of building an RV...To illustrate how expensive litigation is...
Nope! Once the A/W Certificate is pulled, it is no longer an airplane and cannot be recertificated. Your name as "builder" stays with the airplane forever.G-force said:I'm no lawyer...but perhaps multiple releases would help ie one for the airframe, one for the engine, etc? Also, can you volunetarly pull the air worthyness cert and sell it as an non-functional plane? Let the new owner and DAR sign off on a new air worththyness cert. Sure it will degrade value, but less than scrapping the airframe.
Sorry,MustangUSA said:Mel,
Thanks for the reply... but... I am still confused then... (sorry, getting old is a b***h). What recourse then does a new prospective buyer of an existing, previously flying RV have when he wants to buy one partially disassembled, and the present owner has decertified it by removing the data plate and terminating the aircraft registration with the FAA? And one last add-on question to that... what if the person you buy it from, is not the original builder, but the 2nd or 3rd owner, and the existing owner is just paranoid of the liability aspects? What is the new buyer to do to get it legal to fly again with a new "N" number?
Enquiring minds want to know... thanks Mel.
Best Regards,
John Wanamaker
RV-7 Emp
Cuyler Airpark (FD27)
Too bad it isn't that simple. In our sue happy society, the hopes of getting rich with little effort askew the obvious.morlino said:It doesn't seem to matter who owns it, who built it, who does the maintenance, or what the nature of the problem was... The pilot is ultimately responsible. Am I missing something?
Sec. 91.7
Civil aircraft airworthiness.
(a) No person may operate a civil aircraft unless it is in an airworthy condition.
(b) The pilot in command of a civil aircraft is responsible for determining whether that aircraft is in condition for safe flight.
I doubt if that would make any difference. It is the manufacturer that is really on the hook more so than the registered owner, and if you built it, then you are the manufacturer, not the corporation.L'Avion said:For the jailhouse lawyers out there:
What if an aircraft is registered to a corporation, and is not sold as such, but the shares in the corporation are all sold to another individual,and the keys to the aircraft are passed to the new shareholder? No aircraft was sold or purchased, just shares in a corporation, such as: N000RV, Inc.
ptrotter said:I doubt if that would make any difference. It is the manufacturer that is really on the hook more so than the registered owner, and if you built it, then you are the manufacturer, not the corporation.
Steve Ashby said:Sorry guys, Incorporating your aircraft will only take you so far. If it was your negligence that made the ship crash, then you are liable, even it the aircraft is owned by a corporation. Again, every situation is different. You can take definite steps to minimize your liability, but you cannot erase responsibility for a consequence proximately caused (a legal word there) by your negligence. Check with your own aviation attorney, your mileage may vary.
skelrad said:I'm not sure if you can do this, but can you create a corporation and simply employ yourself as the aircraft builder? When you sell the airplane, you close down the corporation. As an owner, your assets are protected, and as an employee, my guess is the corporation is ultimately responsible for your actions. I've never heard of someone suing a Cessna employee for a bad build job, but they'll go after the company who employs the builder (whether that's because that's where the money is or that's the only legal path they can take, I don't know). If you close down the corporation after the sale, what is there for the buyer to go after?
I obviously have no idea if you can structure it this way, but I've often wondered if this is a possibility.
Brandon