Fire Victim, Still in Critical Condition, Sued by Owner of Seaplane That Burned

A critically burned Newport Beach developer, the suspect in an explosive fire last week at Long Beach Airport, has been sued for more than $50 million by the owner of the vintage airplane destroyed in the blaze.

Edward H. Wale, 37, who suffered burns over 90% of his body, has not been charged in the Aug. 27 fire, but he is the prime suspect and the investigation is continuing, according to Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Bob Caldon. Wale was found behind the aircraft by firefighters responding to the 11:50 p.m. blaze, Caldon said.

However, Ralph Simpson, the owner of the 1944 Grumman Goose destroyed by the fire, filed suit against Wale earlier this week in Long Beach Superior Court. He is asking $50 million in punitive damages and the $1.5-million value of the plane.

Simpson’s attorney, Jerry Fireman of Century City, acknowledged that Wale may not survive to see the lawsuit come to trial.

“That’s why we were in such a hurry to file it,” he said. He said his client needs to establish a claim on Wale’s estate, in the event that Wale dies. “He is a wealthy developer, and there are some effects of his death on his estate that we would like to prevent.”

Caldon said that Wale, who is in the burn ward at Torrance Memorial Hospital, had both feet amputated earlier this week and has undergone skin grafts. Still, he said, Wale’s prognosis is not good.

But he added that the fact that Wale has hovered near death has not kept the Fire Department from pressing charges.

Wale is the owner of Wale Development Corp. of Costa Mesa. Workers at the company Friday declined comment.

Caldon said preliminary estimates place damage from the fire at $275,000, “but that might still go up. It’s hard to put a value on the seaplane. It was one of a kind.”

Simpson, according to his attorney, contends that the plane is worth $1.5 million. The Grumman Goose had been “completely restored. It was in super-classic condition and had an extensive market value,” Fireman said.

Two other planes in the open hangar, both single-engine aircraft, were damaged, and one may be junked because exposure to the heat may have weakened its metal parts, Caldon said. The heat was so intense that it warped a three-foot-wide steel beam supporting the hangar ceiling, he said.

Fireman said Wale owns a plane similar to Simpson’s and had hired Simpson’s company, Aircraft Inspection Services, to do extensive restoration work on it. The company, however, had discontinued work on Wale’s plane because Wale was behind in his payments, Fireman said. He added that Wale had contended that the firm was working on Simpson’s plane, not Wale’s.

“Apparently, there had been some extensive bickering,” he said.

According to the lawsuit, Simpson believes that Wale “intentionally and for the specific purpose of damaging, embarrassing and causing extreme emotional distress to the plaintiff,” set fire to and destroyed Simpson’s aircraft.

Wale’s attorney, L. Richard Rawls of Newport Beach, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Simpson’s attorney said he was told by a fire investigator authorities believe that the plane’s valves were opened, allowing fuel to spill, and that the fuel was ignited.

Fireman, who said he had experience in the military inspecting damaged aircraft, added that he had “never seen a plane so thoroughly burned. There was no fuselage there.” Wale’s plane was in an adjacent hangar, separated only by a wall, and was not damaged.

Fire Department spokesman Caldon said he could not comment on the attorney’s information about the fire.

Caldon said fire investigators have determined that “a flammable liquid was involved. We know there was fuel on the outside of the plane. The problem is determining how that fuel ignited and what was Mr. Edward Wale doing there, was it (the blaze) accidental or intentional.”