A jury has found that Cirrus Design, a Duluth, Minnesota airplane manufacturer, was not responsible for the 2006 crash of a small plane into a Manhattan apartment building that killed New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor.
The Manhattan jury returned its verdict Tuesday after a one-month federal trial.
The jurors began deliberations Tuesday morning after closing arguments were completed and they were instructed on the law.
Lawyers for Cirrus had blamed the October 2006 crash on pilot error. The National Transportation Safety Board had made the same finding.
The family of Lidle and his instructor insisted that the plane went down because its flight controls jammed.
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