HONOLULU (CN) — The Ninth Circuit Wednesday grilled attorneys over whether a decades-old aviation law should shield a helicopter manufacturer from liability when it replaces parts with the same reportedly defective design that caused a fatal crash.
The hearing, held at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law, brought the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to the islands for one of its periodic special sittings. The court, which typically hears cases in San Francisco, Pasadena, Seattle and Portland, occasionally convenes in other cities within its nine-state jurisdiction, including Honolulu.
The three-judge panel consisted of Senior U.S. Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, appointed by President Bill Clinton, and U.S. Circuit Judges Michelle Friedland and Jennifer Sung, both appointed by President Barack Obama…