Nicole Lunders, the ex-wife of late NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against his estate following a private jet crash that killed seven people on December 18, 2025.
The crash claimed the life of their daughter, Emma Biffle, among others. Lunders filed the complaint on behalf of Emma's estate.
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The lawsuit alleges that negligent operational mistakes by both Greg Biffle and pilot Dennis Dutton caused the Cessna Citation II accident.
The plane went down minutes after takeoff from Statesville Regional Airport.
According to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, neither Biffle nor co-pilot Jack Dutton held the proper rating to serve as co-pilot for that specific aircraft model, though both had pilot licenses.
The court complaint targets pre-flight decisions and in-flight technical troubleshooting. It claims critical safety protocols were ignored before takeoff.
"The negligent conduct that ultimately led to the crash of N257BW began well before the jet aircraft began to taxi," Lunders stated in the filing.
Lunders asserts that the flight crew failed to activate a filed instrument flight plan, skipped vital radio contact with air traffic control during poor weather, and improperly managed an engine startup sequence that depleted battery power without the generators on.
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The lawsuit details that the crew pushed forward with takeoff despite active warnings about malfunctioning instruments and engine temperature discrepancies.
They eventually flew dangerously low beneath cloud cover to maintain visual contact.
"This perilous situation was created by the negligent and grossly negligent actions of those flying and controlling and directing the flight of the aircraft, pilot-in-command Dennis Dutton and owner/occupant Greg Biffle," Lunders said.
The legal document notes that while power was briefly restored to the gauges after Biffle activated the generator, the subsequent emergency attempt to return to the airport resulted in a fatal high-speed descent.
This lawsuit follows two separate $15 million wrongful death claims filed against the Biffle estate by the families of pilots Dennis and Jack Dutton.
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The final NTSB accident report is scheduled for release in late 2026.
