Three families whose homes were among the closest to the site of the Nov. 1 private jet crash near Greenacres, Florida, have retained an attorney to represent them as they consider their legal options and remain displaced or unable to return to their homes.
The private Learjet, which traveled from Texas to the Bahamas, plummeted from the sky and slammed into the ground along Military Trail, killing all nine passengers aboard. While no one on the ground was killed, the consequences have stretched beyond the aircraft, upending the lives of nearby residents and businesses, Mariano Garcia, an attorney representing the three families, said Nov. 13.
"It was very devastating what happened to the occupants of the aircraft, but this has had ripple effects
on this community," said Garcia, whose West Palm Beach law firm, Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, plans to investigate what caused the crash and pursue compensation for affected residents.
"The effects of this are going to linger."
Fallout from plane crash made one home unsafe to live in, lawyer says
The crash scattered wreckage and debris into nearby RV trailers and homes, leading to the evacuation of about 600 residents and the closure of more than 80 businesses.
Garcia said the three families lived in homes nearest to the crash, inside the Green Acres Mobile Estates community, near Military's intersection with Cresthaven Boulevard.
Although two families have been allowed to return to their properties, the damage has made their homes uninhabitable. County officials deemed the home of a family of eight unsafe.
The residences are riddled with holes from debris and from pieces of wreckage that penetrated their walls and roofs. Chunks of asphalt thrown from the roadway also landed throughout the neighborhood.
For the family of eight, the explosion unfolded around them and left them scarred, Garcia said.
Seven members of the family were home when the aircraft crashed, Garcia said. The parents were on the front porch with their 1-year-old child when they saw the explosion and felt its force. The children's grandparents were inside when the blast shook the home.
Their 20-year-old daughter was driving back from the neighborhood when she saw the aircraft erupt into a fireball, Garcia said.
"These folks are traumatized by hearing the explosion, feeling the shock wave and then seeing the carnage of body parts and airplane parts all over this trailer park," Garcia said. "And really not knowing what happened."
Catholic Charities temporarily placed the family in an Airbnb, but they must leave Nov. 16, Garcia said. If they can't find housing large enough for all eight of them, they will have to split up, Garcia said.
Families wait for NTSB to finish investigation as they assess legal options
The other families are dealing with damage of their own, he said.
At one home, debris tore a hole in the roof that allowed rainwater inside, Garcia said. The property also lost electricity after the crash, and by the time the family was able to return, food in the refrigerator had spoiled.
The families had not filed a lawsuit as of Nov. 13 and are still considering their legal options, Garcia said. Searcy Denney plans to investigate the crash while it waits for the National Transportation Safety Board to complete its investigation, he said.
Garcia said the families want to give federal investigators time to determine what went wrong. He said attorneys and the families are particularly interested in what investigators may learn from the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder. Investigators recovered the recorder from the scene. Experts said the contents could reveal what the pilots heard and did as the emergency unfolded.
For now, however, the most immediate question for the affected residents is not what investigators will eventually find but where they will be living next.
"No family should have to lose access to their home in the aftermath of an aviation disaster," Garcia wrote in a Nov. 13 statement. "Our clients deserve answers about the circumstances that led to this devastating crash. We intend to conduct a thorough investigation and pursue accountability on their behalf.”]"
Valentina Palm covers immigration and breaking news for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Families near Florida plane crash hire lawyer amid probe | Exclusive
