Computer Sleuth Coeur D’Alene Consultant Helps Lawyers Wade Through Their Digital Dilemmas

Three years ago, Coeur d’Alene resident Reed Simpson was slogging through thousands of computer files and mountains of microfiche sent him by a Los Angeles law firm.

Simpson, 58, hired as a computer specialist in a multimillion dollar lawsuit, was hunting for a smoking gun that might decide the case’s outcome.

It was a painstaking process, but Simpson was sure key evidence was there.

Brought in by the law firm representing American Airlines, Simpson was searching for documents showing why two pilots lost their bearings during a December 1995 flight and crashed a passenger jet into a mountain near Cali, Colombia.

The crash killed 161 passengers and crew.

American’s attorneys believed the two experienced pilots sent their plane into the mountain because on-board computer data gave them misleading flight directions.

It was Simpson’s job to explain how that error occurred and to establish that those who manufactured the computer were liable.

Last month, three years after the crash, a 12-person Miami jury looked at the facts and portioned out liability.

Jurors decided American was 75 percent liable for the crash. But in a victory for the firm that hired Simpson, the jury decided the companies that produced the on-board flight data system and computer were also liable.

Jurors said Jeppesen Sanderson, which produces navigational maps and databases, was 17 percent at fault. They also found Honeywell, which took that data and installed it into on-board computers, 8 percent liable.

Americans’ attorneys had already agreed, in 1997, that its pilots had made errors contributing to the crash.

Before making any damage payments, American had sued the other companies as contributors to the crash.

The exact amounts each company pays to victims’ families will be determined through another round of legal hearings, said Dan Johnson, the Los Angeles attorney who hired Simpson.

After the crash, officials at Jeppesen and Honeywell insisted that the airline pilots were solely at fault.

Simpson, going through the crash history, felt there was more to the story.

“I knew something in this case didn’t make sense,” said Simpson, who runs Computer Legal Consultants Inc., a Coeur d’Alene-based firm providing legal research and computer consulting.

Simpson’s key role was unearthing documents showing Jeppesen and Honeywell knew well before the crash that the general computer system used on all airplanes had some data problems. Before 1995, Jeppesen officials identified about 100 different airports or navigation points that had the same code letter as another site in the same geographical area.

The duplication of letter codes turned out to be a key issue in the Cali crash, Johnson said.

During the Cali flight, the pilots were told to direct the plane toward a navigation point known as Rozo, north of the airport.

They punched in the letter “R” in the airplane computer, which should have given bearings toward Rozo, Simpson ex plained.

But because of duplicated data in the Jeppesen and Honeywell system, the letter R provided them directions to another point, 130 miles away, known as Romeo, said Simpson.

Thinking they were directing the plane toward Rozo, the pilots accepted the flight data the computer gave them. Twelve minutes later, they hit the mountain.

Simpson said he wasn’t trying to reduce airline liability so much as to learn what really happened.

“My job is to find the arrows that attorneys put in their quivers. They do the rest,” said Simpson.

After pinpointing the source of the confusion, Simpson then hit pay dirt by tracking through earlier versions of Jeppesen’s aircraft navigation databases.

What became the critical discovery was this: For two years before the Cali crash, Jeppesen officials fixed about 22 of the 100 code problems in the database.

“They knew these were a problem, but they didn’t get around to fixing this problem (in Colombia),” Johnson said.

The Cali verdict stands out as Simpson’s most impressive case as a computer consultant.

It’s produced word-of-mouth attention among other attorneys and will likely identify him as an expert on future cases involving aviation problems, said Johnson.

Johnson met Simpson several years ago when Simpson was still living in Southern California and operating a small consulting company.

Their first case together involved one company suing another over defects in computer systems.

He hired Simpson for the Cali case because the consultant has a “relentless” passion to dig through information to get an answer, Johnson added.

Simpson runs the two-person company from the main floor of his wooden home on the east shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene. His partner, and brother, Brian Simpson, practices law in Southern California.

Simpson and his wife, Carol, moved from California to North Idaho in 1989. He’s relied on his computer background for his livelihood since.

He sees one of his jobs as helping people demystify computer data.

“It’s become harder and harder for attorneys to get key information off of computer systems,” Simpson said.

“My job is to help them define, in court documents, what they need, so there’s no opportunity for the other side to say it can’t be produced.”

Johnson and Simpson declined to say how much Simpson was paid for the Cali research.

Simpson said he charges $200 per hour for work on major legal cases. His other computer consulting and network services run much lower - around $95 per hour, he said.

So far, his track record is unblemished. “I’ve been involved in about 10 court cases,” Simpson said, “and I haven’t lost one yet.”