MLBPA Insurance, The Lidle Crash & A Closet Full of Suits

I believe this chain of lawsuits began when Mrs. Lidle found out that
her husband's group policy provided for by the Major League Baseball
Players Assosiaction (MLBPA) would not be paying out any money to her,
as the accidental death clause wording allegedly specifically excludes
coverage if the player is piloting an aircraft when he dies.

It should give all pilots cause to contemplate for a moment how their
families would be provided for in the event that they are killed while
piloting a plane. What is your insurance situation?

My question about this case is what about the rest of his life
insurance? One wonders if there was any ... or if it too excluded
coverage if he died while piloting. One also wonders, if there was
any other coverage, why no mention is made of this. Perhaps so much
is being made of these suits (against the MLBPAs provider and Cirrus)
in order to get them to just "pay ... now go away" to avoid the
negative publicity to Cirrus and MLB and the MLBPA.

Mr. Lidle was really but a journeyman pitcher who got to the bigs
rather late in life (25), never made massive amounts of money (by MLB
standards) and whose career as a pitcher was almost over when he was
killed. For details on his career go to this excellent baseball
website:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lidleco01.shtml

Buying and maintaining (and insuring) a Cirrus was probably a
considerable drain on his finances if you consider the contract data
in the link I've provided.

I can only assume that the suits against Cirrus (and the MLBPAs group
insurance provider too I believe) are a result of the alleged refusal
of the MLBPAs provider to pay out ...

That's why the question of who was the pilot at the time seems
paramount to the suit although rather obvious to anyone who has taken
flight training all the way through to certification. In the absence
of anyone else to look to, Cirrus (unfairly I believe ... say what you
will about the parachute) is being targeted. One also wonders what
the premiums must have been on the aviation insurance for a relatively
novice pilot flying a somewhat high performance plane. No doubt it
was quite a step up in speed and complexity from the plane in which he
got his ab initio training.

The most recent suit against Mr. Lidle's estate seems to be merely an
effort to make sure that the person whose home was damaged gets
adequately compensated for the trouble. And after all, a plane was
flown into this person's home (apparently while the person was
there !!!) ... it should hardly be this person's insurance company
that ultimately pays for this incident. There are no doubt other
legal negotiations between this person and several other parties ...
but of course suing the widow via the estate of the deceased is the
most inflammatory (and therefore "newsworthy" ) to the media.

I suspect this is probably an unfortunate example of someone flying
while inadequately insured to provide in case of his death while
flying. One can only hope that it is not a case where Mr. Lidle's
hobby only came to light to his non-aviation insurance providers after
the crash.

PPL-A SEL (Canada)

P.S. Another New York Yankee died while piloting his own plane back
in the 70s ... a great catcher, Thurman Munson. His career stats are
he

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/munsoth01.shtml

Yes, this is why I specifically sought out and got Life Insurance that
would cover me when I fly...

Lidle should have bought a supplemental policy to cover him when he
was flying.

On 5/14/2007 12:25:37 PM, "PPL-A (Canada)" wrote:

Buying and maintaining (and insuring) a Cirrus was probably a
considerable drain on his finances if you consider the contract data
in the link I've provided.

Hmmm... am I reading the link right? I am seeing a career salary of 17.5
million. If that is correct then owning and insuring a Cirrus is a mere drop
in the bucket.

--
Peter

"PPL-A (Canada)" wrote:


It should give all pilots cause to contemplate for a moment how their
families would be provided for in the event that they are killed while
piloting a plane. What is your insurance situation?

Any life insurance proposal I ever filled out had questions on hobbies
where being a PPL was kind of hard not to disclose and which
inevitably led to having to fill out the GA questionnaire. I do
currently have a loading on my policies because of my PPL.

Though I have been led to believe that if piloting is something you
took up after a policy is already in place then it doesn't necessarily
invalidate an existing policy. Also I read an article on yahoo
recently which suggested insurers are slow to completely void a policy
and instead are more likely to reduce the payout if omissions were
made during the application. They cited an example where if a life
insured individual declared he was a non smoker and then died of a
smoking related illness, then they may opt to reduce the pay out to
the amount he would have been insured for had he been paying a smokers
loading.

In any case I think loading for GA activities is unfair. The FAA
stats indicate a fatality rate of 1.3 per 100,000 hours of flying,
which admittedly isn't as safe as commercial aviation but definitely
nowhere close to being a dangerous activity. By my reckoning I'm far
more likely to die during the 300 hours I spend a year behind the
wheel than the 30 or so a year I spend in my Cessna.

"Mark" wrote in message
...
"PPL-A (Canada)" wrote:

In any case I think loading for GA activities is unfair. The FAA
stats indicate a fatality rate of 1.3 per 100,000 hours of flying,
which admittedly isn't as safe as commercial aviation but definitely
nowhere close to being a dangerous activity. By my reckoning I'm far
more likely to die during the 300 hours I spend a year behind the
wheel than the 30 or so a year I spend in my Cessna.


I wonder how the 1.3 in 100,000 compares to riding a motorcycle. Do the life
insurance companies load for that too?

"PPL-A (Canada)" wrote:

My question about this case is what about the rest of his life
insurance? One wonders if there was any ... or if it too excluded
coverage if he died while piloting. One also wonders, if there was
any other coverage, why no mention is made of this.

From the news articles, it appears the question is related to the payout of
MLBPA life insurance. The basic amount is for something like $1 million,
with an additional amount of $500,000 for accidental death. Neither would
be paid if he was the pilot flying at the time of the accident.

Lidle's wife would still be eligible for about $170,000 a year in
survivor's benefit from his retirement plan.

Further, he was just finishing a 2 year contract where he earned something
like $4 or $5 million. I suppose any of those assets remaining could be
tapped for any lawsuits against his estate.