Mom of budding journalist killed in East River chopper crash wins record $116M in lawsuit

The mom of a budding journalist killed when his safety harness failed to release after during a tragic, 2018 East River helicopter crash won a $116 million lawsuit verdict Wednesday — the largest ever in New York history.The Manhattan Supreme Court jury gave the record award to Nancy Cadigan, the mother of Trevor Cadigan, 26, who drowned along with four other passengers when the helicopter they were touring on crashed in the East River in March 2018. Both of Cadigan’s parents were originally named as plaintiffs in the suit, but his father, Jerry, himself a broadcast journalist, was unable to see the day of reckoning as he died in July at age, 72.

Kansas-city based attorney Gary C.Robb, who represented Cadigan’s parents, praised the jury for holding “these companies accountable for their immoral and reckless actions,” at the close of the three-month-long trial. Wednesday’s award of $116,067,076 is the highest jury verdict for a single wrongful death in New York history, according to a legal research firm VerdictSearch.The lawsuit alleged that the doors-off helicopter tours — popular with shutterbugs who aim to shoot their legs dangling over the city — are far more dangerous than regular closed-door tours, since they require a much more restrictive harness and tether system, which is much more difficult to release than regular helicopter straps in an emergency.The sole survivor, helicopter pilot Richard Vance — who was also initially a defendant to the Cadigan’s suit — survived largely because he was not similarly strapped-down, officials said at the time.

“These doors-off helicopter tour operators put Trevor in a death trap, and they knew it.They were fully aware for months that the passengers would have no chance of escape from their make-shift harness and tether system in the event of an emergency water landing,” Robb said.

FLYNYON, the charter company Cadigan was flying with at the time of his death, still offers doors-off tours,...