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Delaware Court Rejects Appeal in Congo Airplane Crash

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DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal in a lawsuit stemming from a 2012 airplane crash in the Congo that claimed the life of the chief adviser to that country's president and left his finance minister seriously injured.

The companies that purchased, owned and managed the jet sued aircraft manufacturer Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, claiming the crash, which also killed four others, was caused by failure of the jet's braking system.

A Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit in February, saying the plaintiffs' claims for economic losses were barred and that claims of fraud were conclusory because there was no evidence that the brakes were defective.

The Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiffs' notice of appeal last week because it was received too late, having first been filed mistakenly in Superior Court.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.