Czech businesswoman Renata Kellnerova and her family have filed a lawsuit in an Alaskan court requesting an investigation into the helicopter crash that killed her husband, billionaire Petr Kellner, and four others in March 2021. The lawsuit aims to explore possible misconduct by the company operating the helicopter and failures by other entities involved in the rescue operation. According to available testimonies, rescue units were called to the scene of the crash only a few hours later, and some people may have made mistakes.

Previously, a civil lawsuit asserted that Kellner had survived the helicopter crash but died waiting for rescuers who took too long to arrive due to a failure of the company operating the machine. Czech snowboarding coach Benjamin Larochaix, pilot Zachary Russell, and two mountain guides, Gregory Harms and Sean McManamy, lost their lives in the same crash. Only Czech David Horvath survived it.

Last year, Horvath sued Soloy Helicopters, the company operating the helicopter, claiming the company had reacted too late to the crash. Soloy Helicopters was also the target of a lawsuit filed on behalf of the mountain guide Harms’ partner and child, which claimed that the helicopter pilot was not experienced enough for such flights and that the operating company did not properly supervise the helicopter and warned of its disappearance too late.

Kellner, the founder and majority shareholder of the PPF finance and investment group, was the richest Czech at the time of his death and one of the most influential figures in the Czech Republic. He was the 110th richest person in the world, with a fortune of $17.5 billion the year before his death, according to Forbes magazine’s 2021 ranking. His widow Kellnerova and her family are now ranked 102nd on Forbes magazine’s list, with a fortune of $16.8 billion.

The investigation is still ongoing, and the US authorities have not issued their final report on the circumstances of the tragedy even after more than two years. As the two-year statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits under the US law expired on 27 March 2023, Kellnerova had to act fast. The lawsuit filed by Kellnerova and her family is the latest development in this tragic incident, and it remains to be seen what further action will be taken.
Article by Prague Forum