Ala. court: Minn. pilot death claims to be heard

  MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that
negligence claims against two aircraft firms in the 2002 death of a
Minnesota pilot were wrongly thrown out.
    The court’s decision Friday also said a trial judge in Mobile
wrongly dismissed strict-liability claims against Teledyne
Continental Motors and Cirrus Industries in the crash in New Mexico
that killed John Swanstrom Junior of Duluth.
    His wife and children filed a wrongful death suit against
Mobile-based Teledyne and Duluth-based Cirrus, claiming in part
that a fuel pump was defective on the single-engine Cirrus SR-20.
    The Supreme Court said the trial judge properly struck down
breach of warranty claims against Cirrus but should allow more
proceedings on the negligence and strict-liability claims against
both firms.