SANTA PAULA : Victim’s Family Sues Plane Manufacturer

The widow and three children of a Santa Paula man who was killed in a plane crash last year filed a lawsuit against the plane’s manufacturer Tuesday, claiming that a faulty fuel system caused the crash.

Caroline Greska, the widow of Thomas Greska, the couple’s minor child and his two children by a prior marriage filed the suit in Ventura County Superior Court, seeking unspecified damages from Bellanca Inc. of Alexandria, Minn.

According to the suit, Bellanca manufactured the Citabria Model 7KCAB aircraft that crashed Feb. 19, 1990, in the mountains between Ojai and Santa Paula, killing Greska, 49, and Gregory Madonna, 29, of Calabasas. The suit contends that the plane’s fuel system and other accessories were defective in design and construction and that the defects caused the plane to go out of control and crash.

Bellanca President Don Jensen said the company does not manufacture the Citabria and has no liability for the crash.

The Greskas’ attorney, Patrick McNicholas, acknowledged that it is unclear who is responsible for manufacture of the plane and said other defendants may be named in the suit. Investigators said the two men were co-owners of the plane.