I am told that the EAA, which follows these things more closely than I
do, says that there have been a couple lawsuits in which the builder has
been named as a defendant but there has not been an award against a
builder.  IOW a couple suits, none successful.  If the builder is
insured the insurance company will provide a defense.  If it is
successful, the insurance company has no way to argue that it did not
owe the defense so the successful defense of a lawsuit should not cost
an insured builder anything.  Without insurance, figure on anything from
negligible to $100K depending on the circumstances.  Which brings up
something worth thinking about.  If you sell your airplane, check with
your carrier as to whether you are covered in a later suit and, if not,
purchase a "tail" policy.  It should not cost very much, given the
record against builders.

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Richard [mailto:steve@oasissolutions.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2008 6:30 AM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: RE: [LML] Any liability lawsuits

John,

"3.  I am not aware of any case in which the builder of an experimental
aircraft has been sued as a result of a crash of an airplane he sold to
the
plaintiff."
 
Just a point of clarification on the above item.  Are you saying no one
has
ever been sued or that no one has ever won a case against a builder?

If the latter is true, how much did he spend defending himself?

Steve Richard