Lycoming has lost elements of its appeal against a 2005 jury verdict that blamed design faults for a series of crankshaft failures in its engines. The 14th Court of Appeals in Houston agreed with the earlier verdict that Lycoming's design was to blame for the failures, but it set aside a $96 million judgment awarded in the earlier trial to Navasota, Texas-based Interstate Southwest, which forged the crankshafts. As AVweb reported in 2005, Interstate sued Lycoming after the engine manufacturer blamed the failures on problems with Interstate's forging processes. According to Interstate's lawyer, Marty Rose, the appeals court decision also nullifies Lycoming's $173 million counterclaim against Interstate. However, Lycoming apparently doesn't see it the same way. "Lycoming is very pleased that the Court of Appeals has reversed and rejected all of [Interstate Southwest's] claims for damages in this action and has made clear that Lycoming is free to pursue its claims for damages against [Interstate Southwest] and [Interstate Forging Industries]," the company said in a statement to AVweb Saturday. Whether that means more legal wranglings are on the horizon is unclear.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/news/appeal-court-rules-on-lycoming-crankshaft-case