William Katt (Partner-Milwaukee) and Greg Lee (Partner-Los Angeles) successfully defended a California County against wrongful death and catastrophic injury litigation arising from a collision between a vintage T-28 military aircraft and a Cessna at a public airport. A student pilot in the Cessna was killed in the crash and the other occupant, a flight instructor, was critically injured with burns over 60 percent of his body. The plaintiffs sued the County alleging that dangerous conditions at the airport, including the design of its runways, caused the accident. The plaintiffs also sought to hold the County vicariously liable for the allegedly negligent operation of the airport by an independent contractor of the County. Bill and Greg aggressively defended the County, asserting design immunity and federal preemption as defenses to the dangerous condition claims, and by moving to dismiss the vicarious liability claim against the County on various grounds. The plaintiffs, who included the surviving flight instructor as well as the heirs of the deceased student pilot, ultimately agreed to voluntarily dismiss the County without any payment, instead of continuing to litigate against their claims against the County.