Jury Sides With Alabama Firm in Suit Over Plane Crash

An Alabama jury has decided that Mobile-based Continental Motors is not responsible for an airplane crash that killed a Louisville, Ky., man four years ago.

The Press-Register reports that jurors reached the decision Tuesday in Mobile after more than two weeks of testimony.

Natalie Freeman had sued the Alabama firm, alleging that a faulty crankshaft split apart as her husband flew a single-engine Beechcraft 36 in December 2008. The defense had argued that mistakes in the plane’s overhaul were at fault.

Evan Freeman had taken off from Chicago Midway International Airport on Dec. 18, 2008, bound for Bowman Field Airport in Louisville, Ky.

Freeman reported engine trouble and tried to land the aircraft on a Louisville golf course, where it clipped a tree and crashed.