Heath V. Swift Wings Case Study

Heath v. Swift Wings, Inc.

Court of Appeals North Carolina - 1979

Heath v. Swift Wings, Inc. is an appellate case that focuses on the appropriate standard of care that should be used in negligence cases involving professionals. The issue arose following a plane that crashed while being piloted by Fred Heath, killing everyone on board.

Negligence cases necessitate that the standard of care required of an individual is the same conduct of a reasonably prudent person under the same or similar circumstances. However, a specialist within a profession may be held to a standard of care greater than that of a general practitioner. This also needs to be an objective standard.

This case was brought by the estates of the wife and son of Fred Heath, against Fred and the owner of the plane. In the original suit, a witness testified that Fred Heath conducted pre-flight tests, and loaded and reloaded the plane to distribute weight. A free-lance consultant and pilot also testified to abilities of the plane in question, to the conduct of Fred Heath, and to whether or not the conduct was such of a responsibly prudent pilot. He testified that Heath should have taken off in a different manner and performed a controlled landing in a cornfield after takeoff if he had troubles.

He had a claim on file with four separate insurance companies against loss and he filed proof of loss with these companies. His claims were rejected, so he hired two attorneys to represent him. Carter and Topping, acting on his behalf, instituted four separate actions with the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of North Carolina. These actions were instituted by registered mail, as was the local custom. The insurance companies each filed motions to dismiss arguing that the Commissioner acted without authority as it accepted the claims filed by mail. Statute required that summonses be served by personal delivery, and did not authorize service by