LITTLE ROCK — An eight-member federal jury awarded Joe Rustenhaven $4.2 million Friday for damages he sustained in the crash of American Airlines Flight 1420.
His wife was awarded $2 million for loss of consortium stemming from the June 1, 1999, Little Rock crash, which killed 11.
Mary Rustenhaven was not a passenger aboard the plane; her husband was traveling to Little Rock to make final preparations for their transfer to Maumelle, where he was a purchasing manager for an aerospace company.
The four-day trial was the fifth Flight 1420 case tried before U.S. District
Judge Henry Woods. Another 16 or so are on the docket.
It took the jury less than three hours to make the Rustenhavens' award the third-highest so far. Kristin Maddox, an Ouachita Baptist University student burned in the crash, got $11 million in August, and one of her friends, Anna
Lloyd was awarded $6.5 million in October. The other awards were for $5.7 million and $3.3 million.
Mary Rustenhaven cried tears of relief when the verdict was read. Her husband's psychiatrists had testified it would be detrimental to his mental health to attend.
"Joe and I have never done things apart. To sit here and listen to how bad it is, how bad it's going to be, was awful. I'm just glad it's over," she said.
The case presented some of the strangest testimony from a survivor. Joe Rustenhaven told the jury he'd been haunted by visions of snakes, menacing cats and a man in black since the crash. At 62, Rustenhaven said he could no longer work at his job and was mostly confined to his home. American's attorneys argued the testimony was so strange it damaged Rustenhaven's credibility. They said he was exaggerating his illnesses.
American's final witness, Dr. Richard Greer, a psychiatrist from the University of Florida, testified Friday that Rustenhaven may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder soon after the crash, but he believed that Rustenhaven now was fine, had all of his mental powers, and could recover if he wants to.
Any symptoms he was now reporting were part of a "factitious disorder" -- Rustenhaven was being sick to get attention -- Greer said, adding that his condition was complicated by a mild depressive disorder.
"Someone just needs to take him by the hand and pull him out of this," Greer said.
Rustenhaven's lawyer, Bob Bodoin, suggested in closing arguments that his client had a $9 million injury and that his wife should receive $6 million, since the rest of her life was affected by this, too.
American's attorney Bill Edwards told the jury a verdict of $1.8 million was the maximum that should be awarded. American's local attorneys are not allowed to comment on the case.
However, Al Becker, American's spokesman at the company's Fort Worth headquarters, said, "The verdict was certainly higher than we recommended, obviously higher. But the jury in its wisdom chose that amount. Now we'll have to evaluate" whether or not to appeal.
One of the Rustenhavens' attorneys, Matt Warner of Little Rock, said the verdict "was a good one, but it's important to remember that no amount of money can restore this family, to put them back together."
"Jury foreman Karen Millsap, a third-grade teacher from Conway, said after the trial that the deliberations were especially tough, as some jurors favored a much higher award.
"It's difficult to listen and take notes and sort it all out. We all wanted to do a good job, and I think we did. But it was all work," she said.
Fellow juror Scott Camp, of Cabot, who paints aircraft for a living, said that the experience wasn't what he'd anticipated.
In jury selection, Camp had said he believed the courts were inundated with frivolous lawsuits. After the verdict, he said he had not changed his mind about that, but said he felt the evidence in the Rustenhaven case supported the verdict.
What the jury thinks is especially important to lawyers on both sides. Attorneys in the previous cases have yearned to know what worked and what didn't, but they are not allowed to talk to jurors.
Five of the Rustenhaven jurors were older than 55
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