An eleven million dollar settlement has been approved by Judge Cheryl Starks of the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Case No. 98 L 6186, in connection with two of the deaths arising from a helicopter crash occurring on May 18, 1998, in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The estates of Shinobu Sada, age 49, and Kazuya Yamaguchi, age 38, are each to receive 5.5 million dollars. Each left surviving a widow and one daughter. The families were represented by Nicholas J. Motherway and Robert J. Glenn of the firm of Motherway, Glenn & Napleton.
The decedents were Japanese citizens on temporary assignment as teachers at Futabakai Japanese School in Arlington Heights and were surveying property on behalf of the school at the time of the crash. The helicopter pilot and a third passenger, Yasuo Sato, age 62, also died in the crash, which was blamed on pilot error.