Robert A. Clifford wore a dark blue suit. He entered the wood paneled federal courtroom in Chicago with his leather briefcase, prepared to make his opening statement to the jury which had been selected over the previous two days. A screen was set up for the jurors to view elaborate Powerpoint presentations that would explain the case. It also was for purposes of showing previous testimony of the dozens of witnesses whose earlier depositions had been videotaped in preparation for trial. If anyone contradicted their statements on the witness stand or tried to change their story at this late date, Mr. Clifford was ready to impeach them. The jurors also were to view day-in-the-life videos that Mr. Clifford had produced on each of the 16 passengers who had lost their lives. Mr. Clifford had hired a professional videographer to capture through family photos and videos as well as interviews the lives of each one of the victims he represented who were killed in the tragedy.

Flight 4184 crashed on a cold, rainy Halloween night in 1994, in Roselawn, Indiana. Winds were blowing 30 miles per hour. American Eagle Flight 4184 from Indianapolis was circling 9,000 feet above northwest Indiana waiting to land at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Twice the pilots had warned air traffic controllers that freezing drizzle was coating the wings with ice. While the 30-year-old co-pilot was struggling with the ice build-up, the 29-year-old pilot was out of the cockpit.

“Aw, [expletive],” were the last words of the co-pilot before a crunch sound ended the cockpit voice recording. All 68 passengers and crew members perished when the plane rolled and plunged into a cornfield at 450 miles per hour, an impact so great that the coroner could find no more than a pound of remains for any victim.

As the trial in Chicago’s federal court was about to get underway, the defendants agreed to settle 28 cases for $110 million and an apology in open court from defense attorneys. They assured those in the courtroom that as much as possible had been done to correct the problems that they believed caused the crash. The families distributed the money in confidential settlements. For a week, settlement talks had continued, even into the weekend, while jurors were told various other reasons for the delay in the trial proceedings – if the settlement had collapsed, the jury is not allowed to have that information for fear it could prejudice their objective decision. Instead, in the end, they were thanked for their patience and were dismissed. Mr. Clifford, as lead counsel for the plaintiffs, was allowed to make a mini-opening statement to the families before a packed courtroom. The lawyer for American Airlines told the families, “We are terribly sorry that this happened.”

The crash led the National Transportation Safety Board in 1996 to urge tighter regulations on flights by commuter aircraft in icing conditions. The NTSB report also concluded that the makers of the French-built ATR-72 turboprop had failed to adequately report previous problems encountered by its planes in icy conditions. Its report also faulted the French Directorate General for Civil Aviation for failing to oversee the manufacturer and for failure to inform the Federal Aviation Administration about the airworthiness of the ATR planes in icy conditions but also cited the FAA’s lack of exerting proper authority over the aircraft’s maker as well. Robert Clifford and Kevin Durkin led the Plaintiffs’ Discovery Committee unearthing these critical facts.