Well-known Sioux Falls insurance defense attorney Comet Haraldson died Sunday after suffering a heart attack or other health problem while piloting a small plane.

Comet Haraldson
(Woods, Fuller)

Haraldson, 69, had been with the law firm of Woods, Fuller, Shultz and Smith since 1980. He was known as an expert in workers' compensation law and had handled more than 5,000 cases in his career, according to the law firm's website and news reports.

He had been named in The Best Lawyers in America since 1995, and had published workers' compensation outlines for the National Business Institute.

Haraldson earned his bachelor's degree and his law degree from the University of South Dakota.

“I think most people that remember Comet are going to have very fond and pleasant memories of him,” longtime friend and law firm president Gary Thimsen said.

In the minutes before the fatal crash, Haraldson told air traffic controllers that he was having a heart attack or some sort of medical emergency. That's the last they heard from him, local newspapers reported.

The plane crashed in a field south of Salem, South Dakota. As is standard after a plane crash, the National Transportation Safety Board is in charge of investigating what went wrong. But the partial shutdown of the federal government is slowing the investigation, officials said, because investigators are on furlough and unable to respond quickly.