A lawsuit over the fatal crash involving one of Google cofounder Sergey Brin’s planes has ended in a settlement.
Two pilots, Dean Rushfeldt and Lance Maclean, died in May 2023 after a plane belonging to Brin crashed off the coast of California. A lawsuit filed last July by the family of Rushfeldt claimed the crash was the result of a failure in the plane’s fuel equipment.
The settlement, filed in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County on May 9, is “pending the exchange of closing documents and disbursement of the settlement fund,” per a filing with the court. The parties anticipate that the settlement will be completed in about 60 days, the filing said.
The family of Rushfeldt filed suit against Brin, his private family office Bayshore Global, and several related entities, alleging multiple counts of negligence that led to the fatal crash. The suit offered a rare glimpse into the highly secretive inner workings of Brin’s personal life and family office.
Google, a defendant in the original complaint, was also named in the settlement. The plaintiff filed a request in February to dismiss the company from the suit.
Jessica McBryant, an attorney for Rushfeldt’s family, declined to comment via email, citing a “confidentiality agreement.” Google and a spokesperson for Brin’s family office did respond to requests for comment.
The pilots who died were enlisted to fly the plane from Santa Rosa, California via Honolulu to Brin’s private island in Fiji, the complaint read. However, the plane ran out of fuel around 30 miles off the coast of California after a fuel bladder malfunctioned.
The plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean, and Rushfeldt and Maclean were found dead inside. Their bodies could not be recovered before the plane sank, the complaint said.
In the complaint, Rushfeldt’s family alleged that Bayshore Global and a related corporate entity, Seafly, which maintained the plane, made several errors in the aircraft’s maintenance, including installing the fuel bladder “from memory” instead of following a checklist and not properly logging the alterations.
The widow of Maclean, Maria Magdalena Olarte, filed a separate lawsuit against Brin and Bayshore in February 2024. The plaintiff filed to dismiss the case with prejudice in early January. In a filing in November 2024, the parties said they were “attempting to resolve the matter” via negotiations. It’s unclear if a formal settlement was reached, and an attorney for Olarte did not respond to a request for comment.
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