Children Sue Pilot, Flying Club and Plane Owner for Crash That Killed Their Father
Thursday, April 7, 2016 | 1
The children of convicted workers' compensation fraudster Birger Greg Bacino have filed a lawsuit against the pilot, airplane owner and flying club that they say are responsible for the Aug. 6 plane crash that killed their father, according to a report by the Santa Barbara Independent.
The 56-year-old Bacino was killed when a Cessna 182F piloted by David Martz crashed in the Las Padres National Forest while flying from San Luis Obispo to Carlsbad. The family accuses Martz, airplane owner Poddoubnyi Alexandrovich and Pacific Coast Flyers, which rented the plane, of negligence that caused their father's death.
Bacino was an attorney and former co-owner of Premier Medical Management Systems. In 2010 he pleaded no contest to fraud charges and agreed to pay $380,000 in a plea bargain. Investigators said he and David Wayne Fish, president and co-owner of Premier, purchased more than 16,000 patient referrals from Walker Advertising, which recruited injured workers and referred them to doctors who had a business relationship with Premier.
According to the Independent's report, the suit filed by Bacino's children accuses the Carlsbad-based flying club of negligently and carelessly maintaining the Cessna. The suits says Martz was flying the plane even though his pilot's license had been suspended and was also careless and negligent. Alexandrovich and the club knew or should have known Martz was unlicensed to fly, the suit says.
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