BATON ROUGE – A passenger is suing an air transport company alleging the helicopter he was aboard crashed because of pilot negligence, causing him significant injuries and mental trauma.
Jeffrey Chase Fontenot filed the federal lawsuit November 7 against Rotorcraft Leasing Company citing various allegations of negligence.
Fontenot was a passenger December 15, 2022, on a helicopter owned and operated by Rotorcraft Leasing Company. He claims the pilot lost control of the helicopter while taking off from a platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The helicopter rolled in midair, causing the rotor blades to strike the platform and disintegrate before going into a freefall and crashing into the water more than 100 feet below the platform with Fontenot still aboard, according to the complant.
Fontenot says he lost consciousness when the helicopter struck the water but regained it to escape the sinking helicopter. Fontenot says he, a fellow passenger and the pilot were able to deploy a life raft and waited for hours until being rescued.
Fontenot attributes the crash to the negligence of RLC, listing various acts of negligence, such as failure to have a competent pilot, inadequate training and supervision, failure to comply with regulations and procedures and a disregard for safety protocols. As a result of the incident, Fontenot says he has suffered physical injuries, including several broken vertebrae, requiring extensive medical treatment. He says the event traumatized him, causing him severe psychological and emotional injuries.
Fontenot is seeking damages for physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, physical impairment, disfigurement, disability, medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning capacity and loss of normal life as well as interest, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
He is being represented by Andrew J. Quackenbos, James Domengeaux Jr. and Remy A.M. Jardell of Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards and by Jeffrey K. Coreil of Neuner Pate in Lafayette.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana case number 3:23-cv-01569