Our airplane accident lawyers have represented families of passengers and crew killed or injured in cases against virtually every major aircraft parts manufacturer, assembler, and air carrier, which has earned the firm a distinguished reputation.
Our airplane accident lawyers have the human and financial resources to research complex cases involving mass-disaster accidents.
Our aviation law attorneys and legal staff have the experience to handle aviation litigation against manufacturers, assemblers, and airlines.
Our airplane crash lawyers are committed to excellence.
The list below shows a sampling of our commercial aviation litigation.
| Comair | When a Comair jet crashed in Kentucky in mid-2006, 49 of the 50 people aboard died. Reports indicate that the pilot used the wrong runway for takeoff, one that was too short. Our plane crash lawyers are investigating this unnecessary tragedy on behalf of several families who lost loved ones. |
| Cypriot | Robert Clifford was appointed Liaison Counsel, or spokesperson, for all the American families who lost loved ones in a Cypriot jet crash in Greece in 2005 that killed 121 people. The pilots apparently lost consciousness after the cabin pressure dropped. Boeing, one of the defendants, has already revised its training manuals in response to allegations that design defects may have led to the pilots’ confusion in identifying an incorrectly set pressure valve. |
| 9/11 disaster | Robert Clifford and Timothy Tomasik, partners at Clifford Law Offices, are serving as Liaison Counsel for all property damage claims arising from the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when two Boeing 767 jets slammed into the 110-story steel structures. |
| Southwest Airlines | Clifford Law Offices represent the family of six-year-old Joshua Woods, who died in 2005 when a Southwest Airlines plane slid off a runway and hit the family car on a nearby street. We sent experts and investigators to examine the cause of this tragedy. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has already recommended changes in braking procedures and distance calculations. |
| Turkish Airlines | In 2003, a Turkish Airlines plane tried to land in a thick fog in southeastern Turkey, but crashed. Clifford Law Offices represented the wife of the only American aboard, an architect who died that day while traveling on business. |
| Singapore Air | A Boeing 747 entered the wrong runway at the airport in Taipei, Taiwan, in heavy rain and winds in 2000. When it tried to take off, it collided with construction equipment and burst into flames. Clifford Law Offices represented the family of an American businessman who died in the tragedy. |
| Alaska Air | Alaska Air Flight 261 crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2000 carrying 88 passengers, many home-bound for Seattle from sunny Puerto Vallarta. The law firm represented seven families who lost loved ones. Aviation attorney Kevin Durkin deposed more than 80 people, including airline executives and aviation experts, over a three-year period to determine the cause of the crash – the airplane’s jackscrew system. Even though the National Transportation Safety Board gave the company a virtual pass in its report of the accident, our airplane accident lawyers did the work needed to prevail on behalf of the families we represented. |
| Tarom Airlines | Tarom Airlines Flight 371 crashed in Bucharest, Romania, on March 31, 1995, while en route to Brussels, Belgium, killing all 60 people aboard. Dan Chung, a 57-year-old business consultant, was killed.The Romanian Transport Ministry found that the cause of the Airbus crash, and French and Belgian experts agreed, was that the pilot became affected by health problems shortly after takeoff causing the aircraft to go into a spin when the throttle fell idle.The co-pilot was able to switch on the autopilot, but this function refused to carry out the procedure because the necessary parameters were not met, according to the chief inspector of the Romanian Civil Aviation Authority. Richard Burke flew to France to take the depositions of airline employees, then settled the matter for $4.7 million. |
| American Eagle | Robert Clifford served as lead counsel for the American Eagle Flight 4184
crash in Roselawn, Indiana, in 1994. The experienced airplane crash lawyer
had prepared PowerPoint presentations to explain the case, video taped the testimony of dozens of witnesses, and professionally produced day-in-the-life
videos of the 16 victims he represented. As the trial was ready to begin,
the defendants agreed to a record $110 million settlement and an apology
in open court. Download a pdf about this case. |
| United Airlines | The passengers on United Airlines Flight 232 were thrown from the plane
when it crash-landed in flames into a soybean field in Iowa in 1989. The
jury took less than three hours to return a verdict of $28.2 million on
behalf of a 70-year-old woman with permanent injuries and for the loss of
her husband seated beside her. Robert Clifford, her plane crash lawyer,
also obtained a $15 million settlement for a father who lost his wife and
daughter and an additional $250,000 donated for a bereavement center at
Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago in their names. Download a pdf about this case. |
For further information please contact us at 312-899-9090 or 800-899-0410.
The airplane accident lawyers at Clifford Law Offices have the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to manage complex aviation litigation. If you need a plane crash lawyer, call us for a qualified airplane crash lawyer or aviation law attorney.