Crash landing: aviator hopes to rebuild flight business derailed by tragedy.

ON a shelf in Dan Wolfe's office is a row of miniature helicopters, mixed in among a handful of dusty wine bottles.

All but one of the bottles are mementoes of his company's origins, collected from the Pasadena site on which his Wolfe Air Aviation Ltd. building was built in the late 1970s. The other, cleaner than the rest, bears an image of its winery.

"That's a peninsula on Big Bear Lake," Wolfe said, pointing to the bottle. "It was going to be my retirement home."

The property is gone now, one of the casualties in a series of deaths, bankruptcies and lawsuits that have engulfed Wolfe in the last decade.

Owner of what was once one of two leading firms specializing in aerial cinematography, Wolfe was forced to put three of his companies into bankruptcy and to file for personal bankruptcy after one of his helicopters crashed over the Cahuenga Pass in 1995, killing the pilot and one of three passengers.

Wolfe's aviation liability insurance carrier paid the $5.6 million in claims resulting from the accident, and in turn sued him to recover the payment, claiming his coverage had been cancelled 20 hours before the crash.

To keep Wolfe Air afloat and pay legal bills, Wolfe sold two businesses, one of two Lear jets and the land in Big Bear where he and his wife had planned to build a $400,000 retirement home.

On June 5, Wolfe caught a break. A 2nd Appellate District panel awarded him more than $10 million in damages, claiming that his insurance brokerage and insurance agent breached their fiduciary duties and were negligent in handling his coverage at the time of the accident.

Although the ruling could be appealed to the California Supreme Court, Wolfe said he believes his legal struggles may finally be over and his business is on the rebound.

"I believe in our legal system. But it isn't about following law or logic or having right on your side," he said. "It's about being able to communicate it properly."

Fall from grace

Wolfe, a licensed pilot and a photographer, combined his interests with the formation of Wolfe Air in 1983. In its 20 years, Wolfe Air shot aerial images for airline commercials, defense contractor flight tests, air shows, movies and television shows. Its customers have included Alaska Airlines, the Blue Angels, Boeing Co. and NASA. Wolfe Air also flew planes used in the filming of "Air Force One," "True Lies" and "Hot Shots."

Wolfe Air, whose aircraft fly out of Burbank and Van Nuys airports, goes head-to-head with Clay Lacy Aviation in its battle for fixed-wing aerial cinematography clients.

Both firms have used uses a state-of-the-art camera system developed by Academy Award-winning engineer Bob Nettman, of E.F. Nettman & Associates Inc.

Nettman's Vectorvision camera system, which Wolfe has under an exclusive agreement, allows the aerial crew to shoot images from the top, bottom or nose cone of the plane at 360-degree angles, Wolfe said.

Wolfe also has another Nettman system, a ball-mounted camera that attaches to a helicopter or Cessna 337 to provide high-definition images from farther distances called the Gyron, under exclusive license, Wolfe said.

Both firms have ferried cinematographers on big-name pictures. While Wolfe has "True Lies," Lacy has "Top Gun."

Wolfe's office is adorned with posters of aircraft against blue skies, miniature helicopter models, a television set to play commercials, three antique video arcade game consoles, a silver refrigerator and two large, plush couches.

A 58-year-old grandfather of four with a sandy-white beard, Wolfe has installed a playpen in the lobby for his 11-month-old granddaughter, who comes to work with her mother, one of his twin daughters.

Wolfe's wife Patricia also helps him in the business.

In 1994, Wolfe Air's revenue more than doubled over the year earlier, to $1.7 million,. It had eight employees and a fleet of two helicopters and two Lear jets, Wolfe said. A related company, Wolfe & Co. Films, which produces commercials, generated $2.3 million in revenues that year, he said.

Then came the crash.

On a January evening in 1995, Wolfe was watching the evening news with his wife when the accident was reported. He said he called his director of operations, who confirmed that it was their chopper.

The crash, at north side of the Hollywood Freeway near Barham Boulevard, took place as the pilot flew low to skirt a dense fog, striking high-voltage wires.

Wolfe, who said the contract pilot had been a friend, went to the crash site to identify the bodies. The flight was a typical, seven-and-a-half minute tour from Burbank Airport to the restaurant at the top of Transamerica Center downtown. It "should have been uneventful," he recalls, eyes glistening. "It was a nothing flight, a $150 trip."

More bad news was around the corner. Five days later, while filming a commercial at his Pasadena studio set, he got a call from his insurance broker, Storm Bartling, telling him his aviation coverage had been cancelled 20 hours before the crash.

"I was amazed. I was dumbfounded," he said.

Days after the crash Associated Aviation Underwriters, the carrier, sent a notice of cancellation to all 60 of Wolfe's customers, including the Federal Aviation Administration, which suspended one of his certificates, he said.

He got the certificate renewed and purchased new insurance days later, but the damage was done. Having lost the confidence of his customers, all but six defected within a year, he said.

Court battle starts

Having to cover claims related to the crash, AAU sued Wolfe in U.S. District Court to obtain a court declaration that his insurance was cancelled the day of the accident and to recover the payout.

Wolfe, believing he was insured at the time, counter-sued AAU. He also sued Bartling, the agent; Bartling's brokerage firm, Andreini & Co.; and Imperial Premium Finance, which lent him the money to cover the expensive policy premiums. All were named in a professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract action.

His case was shifted to L.A. Superior Court, where a judge ruled that he did have insurance at the time of the accident, said Mary Gram, an attorney at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP representing Wolfe in the recent appellate case.

But a three-judge panel in the 2nd Appellate District reversed that decision, ruling that Wolfe did not have coverage at the time of the accident.

Wolfe countered with a claim that he was not at fault for the lack of coverage in a case that went to a jury trial, Gram said.

Meanwhile, Imperial settled out of the case for $250,000, according to the recent appellate ruling.

"It became clear to me that I was being screwed. I didn't think I had another option," he said. "I ended up declaring bankruptcy."

A few weeks before the trial with Bartling and Andreini commenced in L.A. Superior Court, Wolfe fired his lawyer, Michael Bidart, a partner at Shernoff Bidart & Darras LLP, who Wolfe said had been pressuring him to settle.

His instinct proved right. In April 2001, the jury found that Bartling and Andreini were negligent in Wolfe's lack of coverage and awarded him about $10 million, according to the appellate ruling. That verdict was upheld by the appellate panel earlier this month.

"It was devastating," he said. "It permeated all my businesses. Some say it builds character. I guess I have lots of character now."

Easing debt burden

The appellate ruling found that Bartling, without Wolfe's knowledge, renegotiated the loan agreement with Imperial. Meanwhile, Wolfe never received an October or November invoice, the ruling says.

In late December 1994, according to the ruling, Imperial sent Wolfe and Andreini notice it would cancel the policy by 12:01 a.m. Jan. 14, 1995, unless it received a payment.

Despite repeated calls to Andreini, Bartling and Imperial to clarify the accounting irregularities, Wolfe received voicemails and a Jan. 9 letter from Bartling, assuring him his aviation coverage was "in order," the ruling says.

"Defendants unquestionably breached this fiduciary duty," wrote 2nd Appellate Judge Reuben Ortega. "They negotiated and executed the second Imperial loan contract without informing Wolfe of its terms. They repeatedly failed to respond to Wolfe's frantic requests for an accounting... and perhaps worst of all, their only response to Wolfe... was to tell Wolfe, in writing, that its accounts and policies were 'in order.'"

Andreini's attorney, Gary Hamblet, a partner at Breidenbach Huchting & Hamblet Corp., did not return calls seeking comment. John Cha, a partner at Stone Rosenblatt & Cha PLC representing Bartling, declined to discuss the case.

Wolfe's fight isn't completely over. He is battling with his former attorney, Bidart, who would be entitled to a portion of the $10 million award because of the work he put in before the 2001 trial.

In the meantime, Wolfe has received $200,000 of the Imperial settlement and expects his portion of the $10 million court award, if finalized, to go toward paying off debts he said were between $6 million and $10 million.

Recovery comes

In the past year, Wolfe has emerged from personal bankruptcy and has pulled his two other companies out as well. He is optimistic that Wolfe Air, with less than $1 million in revenues, will return to pre-1995 revenues in a few years.

His customer base has rebounded to about 25. And while he suffered through the fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, work for NASA and media organizations has climbed, he said.

His optimism, he said, is tempered by the losses of the last several years, including the death of his 26-year-old son from a heroin overdose on Father's Day, 1996.

"It was a horrible day," Wolfe said, his voice wavering. "The last conversation we had was over money. He wanted to borrow money, and I had just declared bankruptcy. I said, 'I've got problems of my own.'"

Wolfe, looking back on the past eight years, said his optimism comes almost entirely from the 7-year-old granddaughter his son left behind.

"I don't know how I would've done it without her," Wolfe said. "She's absolutely the light of my life."