Google co-founder Sergey Brin faces a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the widow of one of two pilots who died in a plane crash off the coast of California in May 2023. He blames a modification for the crash improperly installed and claims its representatives intentionally slowed recovery efforts to destroy evidence, as previously reported Bloomberg and Fortune.
An updated complaint filed Feb. 13 in California's Santa Clara County Superior Court says Lance Maclean and co-pilot Dean Rushfedlt were hired to fly Brin's seaplane from California to Fiji for island hopping with friends. Hauling the $8 million twin-engine Viking Air Twin Otter Series 400 up to that point required an auxiliary fuel system, which the complaint alleges a mechanic did “from memory” without consulting a checklist or recording it with the FAA.
While flying on the first leg of the flight to Hawaii, the fuel system failed and the plane crashed into the ocean while attempting to return to California. The Coast Guard arrived within 15 minutes but was unable to recover any of the pilots from the overturned and partially submerged plane.
In addition to Brin, the lawsuit names Google and Brin's family investment firm, Bayshore Management, as co-owners of the plane, along with those responsible for arranging the flight and maintaining the plane.
After their deaths, the lawsuit says Brin had said he would help with recovery. But then Brin's representatives allegedly told Maclean's widow, Maria Magdalena Olarte, that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was preventing them from recovering the bodies, a claim NOAA denied, according to the complaint.
Olarte seeks damages for five claims, including wrongful death and negligent survival, and demands a jury trial.
