Legal counsel for Oconee County will enter a courtroom next month in Walhalla to seek the dismissal of a lawsuit over an accident involving a small plane and a deer two and a half years ago at the Oconee Regional Airport. The county is the moving party in a dismissal motion to be heard Tuesday, December 11 by Judge Lawton McIntosh during a non-jury term of Common Pleas Court. The lawsuit, filed for North Carolina pilot Randolph James, alleges that as he began a takeoff a deer struck his plane. It arose from what James claims was a late night accident involving his Piper Mirage plane and deer that ran onto runway 7. According to the lawsuit, the deer were killed and the plane damaged in excess of $300 thousand. James alleged the Oconee Airport “did not perform any wildlife hazard assessment, implement any wildlife management plan or otherwise take any steps to address or mitigate the wildlife hazard at its facility….”
