NASCAR Suing Cessna Over Plane Crash

November 27, 2008 11:00 a.m. EST

Daytona Beach, FL (AHN) - NASCAR and one of its companies are suing Cessna for damages following a plane crash that killed five people last year, saying the aircraft company's negligence and its faulty plane are responsible. According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in circuit court, the plane was "unreasonably dangerous and defective," and Cessna's instructions, warnings, inspections and repairs were inadequate. The plane, carrying Dr. Bruce Kennedy, the husband of International Speedway Corporation president Lesa France Kennedy, slammed into two houses in Sanford, Fla., causing a fiery aftermath and shattered lives. "The incident was entirely due to the negligence or fault of (Cessna), and not the negligence or fault of (Competitor Liaison Bureau, Inc.) or NASCAR," the lawsuit states.

NASCAR has since reached undisclosed settlements with those families affected by the incident, but the amount sought in the lawsuit from Cessna is not specified. The lawsuit is seeking reimbursement for the money the company's insurance company already paid to the families of the people killed on the ground: a woman and an infant in one home, and a 4-year-old girl in the house next door.

Three people on the ground were burned, two badly, but survived.