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GENERAL INFORMATION |
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Aviation Injury
Law Summary - Introduction |
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| Aviation
law presents many complex and challenging issues
for practitioners. Specialization in both the
legal and technical aspects of aviation is critical. |
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appreciate that the time after an airplane crash
or other aviation disaster is one of deep pain
and grieving for the spouses, children and families
of the passengers and crew who died or were severely
injured. As time passes, you will have questions
about how and why the crash occurred, your legal
rights, and the duties and legal responsibilities
of the flight operator and manufacturer of the
aircraft or helicopter, as well as other component
manufacturers. |
| Lieff
Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is
uniquely positioned to answer your questions
and represent your interests. We have over
thirty years of experience litigating airplane
crash cases worldwide. We have relationships
with the foremost experts in the field of
aviation safety and disaster analysis. |
| Lieff
Cabraser's innovative work helped establish
the precedent that citizens of countries
outside the United States could assert claims
in American courts and obtain substantial
recoveries against an American plane manufacturer
based upon airplane accidents occurring abroad. |
| We
are honored to represent our clients and
committed to providing the very best representation.
We are dedicated to obtaining the highest
compensation under the law for our clients. |
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| Lieff
Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP represents persons injured
in vehicle accidents. Click
here to submit your case. |
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| To
find out more about Lieff Cabraser's
aviation practice, please visit
our site dedicated to aviation
law: www.globalaviationlaw.com. |
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| In the 1990s, Lieff Cabraser represented the families of passengers who were on Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines Flight SU593 which crashed in Siberia in 1994. The plane was en route from Moscow to Hong Kong. All 70 people on board were killed. According to a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder, the captain's two children entered the cockpit during the flight and were allowed to take turns flying the plane. The autopilot apparently was inadvertently turned off and the plane went into a fatal nosedive. |
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aircraft had an extremely high crash rate,
with over 300 pilots killed. Robert Lieff
continued to prosecute these cases after
the formation of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP. The lawsuits were settled with Lockheed
on terms favorable to the plaintiffs. |
| In other landmark litigation, we served as Plaintiffs' Liaison Counsel on behalf of the passengers and families of passengers injured and killed in the United Airlines Boeing 747 cargo door catastrophe near Honolulu, Hawaii in 1989. Lieff Cabraser organized the prosecution of the case, which included claims brought against United Airlines and the Boeing Corporation. We developed a statistical system for settling the passengers' and families' damages claims with certain defendants, and coordinated individual wrongful death trials against the non-settling defendants. |
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Our lawyers
have years of experience successfully representing clients
in personal injury cases. |
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There
is no charge or obligation for our review of your case. |
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In death
and serious injury cases, we are pleased to visit you where
you live, at no cost, to discuss your legal rights and answer
your questions. |
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We have
retained product safety and medical experts nationwide to
assist our clients with their claims. |
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| In
the 1990s, Lieff Cabraser represented the families
of passengers who were on Aeroflot Russian International
Airlines Flight SU593 which crashed in Siberia
in 1994. The plane was en route from Moscow to
Hong Kong. All 70 people on board were killed.
According to a transcript of the cockpit voice
recorder, the captain's two children entered
the cockpit during the flight and were allowed
to take turns flying the plane. The autopilot
apparently was inadvertently turned off and the
plane went into a fatal nosedive. There was no
auditory warning system to alert the pilots that
the autopilot system had been disengaged. |
| Lieff
Cabraser, alongside European co-counsel, Martin-Chico & Associates,
filed suit in France where Airbus, the aircraft
manufacturer, was headquartered. In the Aeroflot
case, all the families Lieff Cabraser represented
obtained substantial economic recoveries in a
settlement of the action. |
| Partner
Robert J. Nelson spearheaded this litigation.
Mr. Nelson has been practicing law in California
for almost two decades. He has served as lead
counsel in numerous complex cases, including
some of the largest class actions in the United
States, and has years of experience trying cases
in both federal and state court. From 2004 to
2006, Mr. Nelson has been recognized as one of
the top attorneys in Northern California by Super
Lawyers magazine. |
| In
2005, English solicitor Nigel Taylor
became Of Counsel to Lieff Cabraser.
Mr. Taylor has devoted much of his
professional life to the representation
of air crash victims and their families,
and is regarded as one of the world's
leading practictioners in that field. |
| London
is the insurance capital of the world
and Taylor's London office is located
near the headquarters of insurers
who handle more than 90 percent of
the world's aviation accident insurance.
When an accident occurs, it is those
insurers who act on behalf of the
airline and other responsible parties,
to compensate the victims. |
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| In
the past, Taylor has negotiated settlements on
behalf of the families of most of the passengers
who died in the Air France Concorde disaster
at Charles de Gaulle airport outside of Paris
in July 2000. He has also helped resolve claims
arising out of the following disasters: 1991
Lauda Air Boeing 767ER crash near Bangkok, Thailand;
1992 Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A-300
crash in Nepal; 1992 Thai Airways International
Airbus A-310 crash in Kathmandu; 1994 Aeroflot
Russian Airlines Airbus A-310 crash in Siberia;
1994 Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter crash
in Scotland; 1994 British Army Westland Lynx
helicopter crash in Germany; 1997 China Southern
Airlines Boeing 737-300 crash at Shenzen, China;
1998 Air France Boeing 707 crash near Bogota,
Columbia; 1998 Thai Airways International AIrbus
A-310 crash at Surat Thani, Thailand; 2000 Gulf
Air Airbus A-320 crash at Bahrain. |
| Taylor's
expertise in negotiating with insurance representatives
is a great advantage to Lieff Cabraser clients. |
| Another
member of Lieff Cabraser's aviation team is David
Fiol. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Fiol
has spent his legal career working on aviation
accident cases. Mr. Fiol has written substantial
portions of the treatise Aviation Accident
Law, including, most recently, the entire
chapter devoted to the treaties and laws regulating
international flights. Mr. Fiol played a key
role in drafting the trial and appellate briefs
that led to substantial recoveries for the families
of those who died on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland. Later, he helped institute an action
against the State of Libya for bombing the aircraft,
leading to a settlement of $2.7 billion. |
| Other
attorneys contributing their expertise to Lieff
Cabraser's aviation practice are Bill Lann Lee,
who served as Assistant Attorney General in Washington,
D.C. for President Clinton and was the recipient
of the Distinguished Service Award from the United
States Department of Justice, and Elizabeth Cabraser,
recognized as one of the top litigators in the
United States and a leading authority on complex
civil litigation. |
| Our
firm has ongoing relationships with leading injury
and accident lawyers across the globe. In several
of the cases mentioned above, our lawyers have
worked closely with the law firm of Martin-Chico & Associates,
one of Europe's leading aviation law firms with
offices in France and Spain. For Canadian cases,
we are associated with the Toronto, Ontario law
firm of Rochon Genova, which represents plaintiffs
in a wide range of civil cases. |
| In
addition to our fifty-plus attorneys, we employ
an impressive team of scientific and medical
analysts, investigators, legal assistants and
legal nurse consultants who have years of experience
in aviation and personal injury lawsuits. We
have also retained leading experts worldwide
in the fields of accident and disaster reconstruction
and aviation safety. |
| For
a list of our current aviation cases click
here. |
| To
confidentially contact an experienced aviation
attorney at Lieff Cabraser regarding a case,
please click
here. Alternatively, you may call Lieff Cabraser
toll-free at 1-800-541-7358 (or 1-415-956-1000
for international callers). |
| Founded in 1972, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP is an over fifty attorney
law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. For the last five years,
the National Law Journal has recognized Lieff Cabraser
as one of the top 20 plaintiffs’ law firms in America. |
| For our personal injury cases, we bring a team of experienced
lawyers. Each client is assigned an individual lawyer. In addition, we have
on staff multiple nurses, legal assistants, scientific analysts and case
clerks to assist the attorneys. To learn more about our firm, click
here. |
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| Trademark
Notice: Personal Injury Lawyer America is an electronic newsletter
from Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP. Lieff Cabraser
represents clients in a wide range of cases, including personal
injury and wrongful
death lawsuits. Our personal injury attorneys
| lawyers are committed to providing the very best representation
and support possible for our clients. This website provides information
on the legal rights of the injured and the latest news on product
defects and related lawsuits. |
Lieff Cabraser
is not affiliated in any way with any trademark owner. The use of
any trademarks on this site is for product identification and information
purposes only.
About Lieff Cabraser: We have
offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. Our lawyers have
represented clients in personal injury, wrongful death and
rollover crashes and product defect lawsuits across America, including
residents of Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho,
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland,
Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada,
New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin,
West Virginia and Wyoming.
Among the cases our personal injury
attorneys are prosecuting are the Medtronic heart lead recall, the
AMO contact lens solution recall, the Peter Pan peanut butter recall, Guidant
pacemaker defects, SUV
rollover accidents, popcorn
workers lung injuries, and Ford
switch fires.
Disclaimer: The hiring of legal
professionals is an important decision that should not be based on
advertising alone. Please read our disclaimer. |
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| Copyright © 2008 Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP |
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