Santa Maria Airport Boardmember at Center of Forklift Fatality Sues Airport, Insurance Company

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This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

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A boardmember of the Santa Maria Airport — who was driving the forklift involved in a fatal collision in May — is suing the airport, its general counsel, and its insurance company for alleged civil-rights violations pertaining to the accident investigation and his denied access to airport facilities.

David Baskett, 81, was at the intersection of Skyway Drive and Hangar Street when a pickup truck collided with the forklift’s prongs, killing the 39-year-old woman in the passenger seat. An investigation conducted by the Santa Maria Traffic Bureau concluded that Baskett wasn’t responsible for any wrongdoing, but Baskett said that the Santa Maria Police Department’s investigation is ongoing.

The Santa Maria Public Airport District is also conducting its own investigation into the incident. In the meantime, Baskett’s access to many parts of the airport has been revoked — the first cause of action in his lawsuit.

He is claiming that this action — without the results of the airport’s investigation — violates his 14th Amendment right to due process.

“Despite requests, there has been no hearing, no report, no citation, no lawsuit, nor response [to] my requested airport videos of the accident given, but ‘punishment’ has been applied,” Baskett wrote in the suit, in which he is representing himself. “It’s pretty black and white in my view — we’ll see how this one goes.”

This is not the first time that Baskett has been involved in a forklift accident. Emails between him and airport counsel reveal that Baskett once hit a parked Toyota Prius with the same forklift on airport property. “All issues have been settled with the owner,” he wrote in one of the emails.

Additionally, this is not the first time that Baskett has been involved in litigation with the airport and its boardmembers. He has pursued seven unsuccessful legal actions, with two still ongoing, against the Santa Maria Airport District or members of the board since 2018. In many of them, he was representing himself.

Baskett was also removed from all committee appointments months prior to the accident due to Brown Act violations, untruthful reimbursement requests, and conducting unauthorized business, according to Ignacio “Nash” Moreno, president of the Airport Board of Directors.

“I feel at this point, Mr. Baskett is just grasping at straws with his blanket of seemingly self-written lawsuits,” Moreno said.

Since being evicted from his hangar in 2020 (the cause of a few of Baskett’s lawsuits), his “high-value” belongings have been spread out among other colleagues’ hangars. Baskett claimed to be moving these belongings between hangars when the fatal forklift accident occurred.

As a result, the Special District Risk Management Authority threatened to revoke the airport’s insurance policy unless Baskett was removed from it, citing him as a “high risk” to the airport — another cause of action in his lawsuit.

“I’m not a threat to the airport,” Baskett said. “I’ve been there for 40 years and 12 as a director.”

“I want a public apology to me published in the public press, some negotiation for the economic damage that was caused, and restoration of my normal access to the airport,” Baskett said when asked what a best-case outcome looked like.

For Moreno, the best-case scenario would be Baskett stepping down from his position to deal with the litigation at hand. “Although the remaining four boardmembers, myself included, have asked for his resignation, Mr. Baskett has publicly said he will not step down,” he said.

Baskett is also a boardmember of the Santa Maria Joint High School Union District. Kenny Klein, the district’s public information officer, didn’t comment on the recent litigation involving their boardmember, instead stating, “We are very saddened by the tragic accident in Santa Maria in May, involving a school board member. Our prayers remain with everyone involved.”

Baskett has no plans to step down from his school board position, either. “I’ll let the voters decide,” he said.

Correction: This story was updated on July 23 to correct Baskett’s age and to note that the forklift that hit the Toyota Prius was the same one involved in the fatal accident, not a different on as reported in an earlier version of this story.