Flurry of motions after verdict in ‘Final Season’ helicopter crash suit

Posted on Aug 18, 2009 by Rod Boshart.

Rescue crews work at the site of the helicopter crash near Walford in June 2006. (KCRG-TV9)

Competing attorneys have launched a flurry of post-verdict motions in the aftermath of a multimillion-dollar civil damage award stemming from a June 2006 helicopter crash during the filming of “The Final Season” movie.

District Judge Donna Paulsen is being asked to order a new trial, vacate or modify a July 13 Polk County jury verdict, and reconsider other aspects of the complicated legal proceedings that merged four lawsuits into one case and resulted in one of the largest civil damage awards in Iowa history after a five-week trial.

A jury of five women and one man last month decided pilot error was primarily the cause of a fatal accident that occurred during aerial filming of “The Final Season” – a movie about the 1991 Norway High School baseball championship won during the school’s last year of existence.

The panel awarded $7.2 million in damages to Kathryn Schlotzhauer, whose husband, Roland, 50, a cameraman from Lenexa, Kan., died on June 30, 2006, when the helicopter snagged overhead utility lines and crashed in a cornfield along Highway 151.

The jury also awarded $4.16 million in damages to movie co-producer Tony Wilson and his wife. Wilson, now 52, of Dallas Center, was seriously injured as a passenger in the Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter flown by Richard Green, now 75, of Hudson.

Jurors ruled that Green, who owned Ritel Copter Service, “The Final Season” company, and two of its producers were at fault for the fatal mishap. The jury assessed Green 75 percent of the blame for Schlotzhauer’s death and 100 percent fault for Wilson’s injuries. They also ruled the movie makers were 25 percent responsible in Schlotzhauer’s death.

Last month’s verdict also found Final Season 25 percent at fault and Green 75 percent at fault for damages sought by Green, the estate of his late wife, Thelma, and Ritel Copter.  However, under Iowa law, since Green was found to be more than 50 percent at fault in the accident, he cannot recover damages and that lawsuit was dismissed. His attorney had sought $2.8 million in actual losses and up to $14 million in punitive damages.

The jury did not assess any fault or cause of the accident to Bristol Aerospace, a Canadian company that manufactured a special wire-strike protection system that was mounted on Green’s helicopter at the time of the crash. No fault was assessed to Wilson as well.

One of Green’s attorneys challenged several of Paulsen’s rulings, including a decision to allow only one lawyer to represent the interests of Green, Thelma Green’s estate and Ritel Copter during trial even though there were conflicting strategies for clients who were both plaintiffs and defendants in the case.

Hudson attorney Douglas Coonrad also challenged the jury verdict as excessive and contrary to Iowa law. Final Season’s legal counsel also questioned the amount of the jury award, while contending that the movie company had no duty of care for Roland Schlotzhauer as an independent contractor or responsibility for the pilot’s negligent conduct in seeking a directed verdict or new trial.

Much of the trial’s testimony focused on Bristol’s special safety system, which attorneys for Schlotzhauer, Wilson and Green argued was defective and ineffective in preventing the accident.

Bristol’s defense cited the company’s safety record in blaming pilot error and actions of the movie’s producers for the fatal mishap. Bristol experts acknowledged the company shortened a cutter and removed a serrated blade but contended the redesign did not reduce the safety system’s effectiveness.

Paulsen has given attorneys additional time to respond to the various motions before setting a hearing to consider the challenges.