Lawyer who crashed snowmobile into Black Hawk helicopter is awarded $3.3 million in damages

A federal judge ruled this week that the U.S. government must pay $3.3 million in damages to a Massachusetts lawyer who was involved in a March 2019 snowmobile accident. Black Hawk Helicopter A car parked on the sidewalk overnight.

U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni ruled that the government was 60 percent liable for parking a helicopter on a snowmobile trail off Fort Drum, New York. Worthington, Massachusetts; But they also criticized Jeff Smith for not operating his snowmobile safely, for going too fast and for wearing tinted goggles, according to the Associated Press.

“The court found that the government breached its duty of care by failing to take steps to protect against the obvious hazard of a camouflaged helicopter parked in a snowmobile-accessible path in a somewhat wooded area in the dark,” Mastroianni wrote. “The helicopter and the area in which it was parked were not illuminated or marked in any way.”

According to the Associated Press, Smith suffered 12 broken ribs, a punctured lung and severe internal bleeding in the crash and was taken by helicopter to a trauma center, where he now struggles to perform simple tasks like putting on his socks or pulling up his pants.

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He initially sought $9.5 million in damages to cover medical expenses and lost wages, and to hold the military responsible for the accident.

“We thank Judge Mastroianni for his careful consideration of the complex facts of this case,” Smith's attorney, Doug Desjardins, said after the verdict. “We believe justice was served and this sentence promotes public safety.”

Smith's lawyers said the crew of the Black Hawk helicopter Flew for night training It was negligent to park the camouflaged 64-foot aircraft at an airfield that is rarely used and is also used for snowmobiling.

The helicopter landed on an FAA-certified runway, and the crew testified that training is frequently conducted in similar locations, but Smith, who has snowmobiled along the trail more than 100 times, said the last time an aircraft used the trail was decades ago, when he was a child, and that it has never been used by a military aircraft.

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Jeff Smith rests in a hospital bed at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, following a snowmobile accident in April 2019. (Photo by Kelly Smith via The Associated Press)

The government repeatedly tried to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it couldn't be sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act because it involved a policy decision. The government also argued that the crew wasn't told they would be landing on a snowmobile runway, and tried to shift the blame onto Smith, citing that he was operating the sled at speeds of more than 65 mph and that he had taken two prescription drugs and drunk two bottles of beer before the ride.

On the night of the accident, Smith said he was helping his mother fix a computer. After having a beer at dinner and another with his father, they set off to meet his brother, Richard Smith, on the trail. Jeff Smith drove through farmland and woods in the dark before crossing a ridge. His headlights were reflecting off “something,” but Smith didn't realize it was a helicopter until after the accident.

Smith's snowmobile was damaged in a crash in Worthington, Massachusetts in March 2019. (U.S. Army photo provided by attorney Douglas Desjardins via The Associated Press)

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“I found him face down in the snow,” Benjamin Foster, a member of the Black Hawk crew, said in court. “We rolled him onto his back and I remember yelling and telling one of the crew chiefs to get trauma scissors and a space blanket from the aircraft. … I remember him gasping for air.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.