Published September 4, 2009 by William Lee, Chicago Tribune

A Cook County judge on Thursday approved a $15 million settlement for the family of a restaurateur killed in a small airplane crash near a Wheeling airport in 2006.

Michael Waugh, 37, and three others were killed when the twin-engine Cessna 421B they were riding in crashed into a storage yard as it approached Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling in January 2006.

Waugh of Algonquin was general manager and chief operating partner of Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in Chicago.

The settlement, approved by Circuit Judge John Ward, awards $6 million to Waugh’s widow, with the rest being divided among the couple’s three young sons.

The wrongful death suit alleged that the Morgan Stanley financial firm improperly allowed employees to fly personal planes to conduct business.

The suit also blamed pilot Mark Turek, 59, a senior vice president in Morgan Stanley’s Riverwoods office, with negligence.

“We think that was improper because … every single other financial institution prohibits that,” said attorney Gary Robb, who represented Waugh’s widow, Lisa.

Also killed in the crash was Kenneth Knudson, 61, founder of Sybaris, and Scott Garland, 40, of Chicago, another financial adviser at Morgan Stanley.