Vann Owens, a former Hamilton County judge, family man and respected lawyer who once asked the pilot of a plane he was in to turn off the engine to help him defend a case, died Tuesday of natural causes. He was 86.
Born in 1931, Owens grew up in Chattanooga, went to City High School and received an engineering degree from Auburn University, friends and colleagues said. Then he decided he wanted to become a lawyer.
Vann Owens is shown in this 2003 file photo.“I never asked him why,” said Tom Williams, an attorney who practiced with Owens for years. But his curiosity seemed to suit the profession.
Doing insurance work for a local firm, Owens had to defend a plane manufacturer after local TV newscaster and congressional candidate Mort Lloyd was killed when he crashed his plane on Aug. 20, 1974. According to news accounts, a blade broke loose and threw the engine off balance.
“[Owens] got up in a plane and voluntarily let them cut the engines off just to see what would happen,” Williams said Wednesday. “I don’t think anybody else would do that.”