Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Airplane Crashes
and Accidents
- How quickly must I hire an
attorney?
- What are my legal rights after
an aircraft disaster?
- Will I have to pay a fee
for your review of my case?
- Who will I sue?
- How long will a lawsuit take?
- How do I select an attorney
to represent me?
- Should I accept an offer
from the airline to settle the case right
away without consulting an attorney?
- How much will I get?
- Do I need a lawyer? Why don't
I just contact the defendant and work it
out with its insurance company?
- Don't you just duplicate
the work of government investigators?
- Can you help me if my accident
occurred outside the United States, or over
the ocean?
- How do I contact your law
firm?
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP has over thirty years
of experience in aviation law. We hope you find the following
information useful and informative.
We are committed to providing the very
best representation and support possible for our clients, and
to obtaining the highest compensation under law for their claims.
1. How quickly must
I hire an attorney?
You
should not feel pressured to make an immediate decision about
pursuing a claim for compensation. Mourning the loss of loved
ones should take precedence over financial issues at this
difficult time. However, do keep in mind that each country
(or sometimes each state, province, or other subdivision
within that country) imposes a deadline for lawsuits. This
deadline is known as the statute of limitations. Certain
international flights are governed by the Montreal Convention,
an international treaty that provides its own deadline of
two years from the date of the accident. Because sometimes
it can be very difficult to determine which deadline applies,
it is important to seek the advice of a lawyer before the
shortest possible deadline expires.
Lawsuits against
governments often are a possibility, since those entities provide weather and
air traffic control services to pilots, and also operate many airports, so their
negligence may play a role in some accidents. When suing a governmental entity
you may be subject to extremely short deadlines, often less than a year.
2. What are my legal
rights after an aircraft disaster?
This
depends on where the accident occurred and where the individuals
involved lived.
In the United States,
when a person is injured in an aircraft accident, in most cases the injured victim
may bring a claim along with his or her spouse, who is entitled to compensation
for the loss of support, services and other benefits that a married couple provide
to each other. In wrongful death cases, most U.S. states provide that the decedent's
spouse and children, if any, are entitled to sue for damages. If there is no
spouse, then a child (or guardian of a child) may sue, and if there is neither
a spouse nor child, then the decedent's parents are entitled to sue. After
the parents, siblings are next in line of priority. The damages standards for
wrongful death cases vary widely among states and countries, with some jurisdictions
only permitting recovery of financial losses, and others recognizing the need
to compensate for the profound grief involved in the death of a loved one.
For accidents involving
international flights, the Montreal Convention often will apply and will restrict
where the airline can be sued and what types of damages are recoverable. The
passenger's travel itinerary becomes very important in these cases and
you should make sure to preserve all the travel documents for possible use in
a lawsuit. Only an experienced international aviation lawyer will be familiar
with the law in this area.
3. Will I have to pay
a fee for your review of my case?
There
is no charge for our review of your case. If we decide we
can represent you, we will discuss our contingent fees (calculated
as a percentage of the recovery we obtain) and provide a
written contract for us to agree on.
4. Who will I sue?
That
depends on the facts of the case. In order to maximize your
chance of success and recovery, we investigate the conduct
of all potential defendants, including the pilots; the airline(s)
involved; the owner of the aircraft; the manufacturer of
the aircraft and its key parts; the aircraft maintenance
provider; the government (for possible negligence by air
traffic controllers and weather services); and airport operators.
Further, the facts of a particular case may dictate investigation
into the conduct of others.
5. How long will a lawsuit
take?
We
cannot give any guarantees. Air crash investigations are
often complex. It typically takes many months before definitive
conclusions about the cause of an accident can be reached.
In some instances, a case will settle to your satisfaction
shortly after it is filed, or perhaps even before. In most
cases, a final resolution will take one to two years.
Rest assured that
because Lieff Cabraser earns no fee until you make a recovery, we work efficiently
and swiftly to obtain maximum compensation to our clients and bring your case
to a successful conclusion.
6. How do I select an
attorney to represent me?
In
deciding on representation, families should seek a lawyer
that has substantial experience in successfully handling
similar cases. It is important to not only verify the reputation
and experience of the law firm as a whole but to be sure
that your case will be handled by individuals with appropriate
experience. Finally, aviation cases can be extremely expensive
to litigate and the firm you choose should have the resources
to conduct the case through trial and appeal if necessary.
7. Should I accept an
offer from the airline to settle the case right away
without consulting an attorney?
No.
You should not be pressured into making immediate decisions
about any offer of final compensation. There is no legal
reason that requires you to make a quick decision. In the
United States, both airline representatives and plaintiff's
lawyers are required by federal law to refrain from contacting
families for the first 45 days after an accident. By contrast,
in Europe the airlines are required to make advance payments
to meet any immediate financial needs of the decedent's
survivors. Such payments are to be made to the legal next
of kin and should be made without the recipients being required
to sign any documentation other than a simple receipt for
the funds advanced. The receipt should in no way prejudice
the legal rights of the family, but it is a wise precaution
to have any document from the airlines or their insurance
companies reviewed by a lawyer with knowledge of European
and international law.
Families may be asked
by the airline's representatives to provide personal information about
the deceased, their occupation, earnings, and who their dependants were. We strongly
advise that the next of kin not respond to any such inquiries without first obtaining
legal advice.
8. How much will
I get?
In
most jurisdictions, if the defendants are found liable, you
are entitled to a judgment that fully compensates you for
your financial loss. For other elements of harm, jurisdictions
differ on what you are entitled to. If you suffered a personal
injury, the defendant is responsible for paying for your
medical care, both past and expected, your past and future
lost earnings, and an amount to compensate you for pain and
suffering. Your spouse also might be entitled to an award.
If a loved
one died, the recovery usually is based on the amount of economic support and
services that you lost, plus, in some jurisdictions, an amount designed to compensate
for your grief and mental anguish. We have economists who specialize in evaluating
these injuries and calculating the lump-sum amount that will provide monetary
compensation for your loss.
If the conduct
that caused the accident was egregious, you may also be entitled to an award
of punitive damages. This is not available for international flights governed
by the Montreal Convention.
9. Do I need a lawyer?
Why don't I just contact the defendant and
work it out with its insurance company?
It
is usually both impossible and inadvisable to try to resolve
an aviation accident case on your own. Aircraft are complex
machines, and aviation accidents involve multiple parties
and complex questions concerning what happened, who was legally
responsible, and how the matter should be resolved. Not only
legal experts (attorneys), but also aviation experts such
as engineers and pilots, working on your behalf, are critical
to properly evaluate the case and advise you of your rights.
Without these experts, you may never know what really happened,
or what the true value of your case is.
It is important to
understand that the airline and their insurers always employ the services of
expert lawyers that seek to avoid responsibility or at least minimize the payments
that will be made to the victims and families. In contrast, our duty is to identify
all responsible parties and maximize the compensation that can be obtained. Only
established firms like Lieff Cabraser have the staying power to investigate these
complex cases thoroughly, and to send a message to the defendants that they will
not be able to hide their misconduct from you.
Consider this true
life example. Several years ago one of our attorneys investigated a case in which
the client passenger was rendered quadriplegic by turbulence that caused him
to slam his head into the aircraft ceiling. The airline claimed he was the victim
of "clear air turbulence," which cannot be predicted because it arises
in clear, good weather. The airline argued it was not at fault.
However, when the
attorney reviewed the flight data and compared it with the reports of his weather
experts, he discovered that the airline had lied to government safety investigators
about the location of the aircraft at the time of the accident. The pilots were
actually flying over a storm and neglected to turn on the seat belt sign or warn
passengers of the risk. The airline settled the case for several million dollars.
10. Don't
you just duplicate the work of government
investigators?
Government
investigators are charged with the task of investigating
accidents to assure that we learn from mistakes
and do not repeat them. They do a good job, but
often they are influenced by airline and manufacturer
representatives that are permitted to work with
them to investigate crashes. Often this leads
to a bias that tends to blame pilots for accidents
that were caused in part by poor aircraft designs
or even total system failures. Only experts and
consultants that are hired by outside attorneys
can bring a perspective that is wholly uninfluenced
by this bias.
11. Can
you help me if my accident occurred outside the United
States, or over the ocean?
Yes.
If you or a loved one was a United States resident traveling
on an international flight, the Montreal Convention may permit
you to bring suit in the United States regardless of where
the accident or injury occurred. If you are a resident of
another nation, we are affiliated with a network of premier
aviation law attorneys worldwide. We can assist you in finding
expert counsel in the jurisdiction where your claim can best
be prosecuted.
12. How do I contact your firm?
Families
whose loved ones died or were injured in airplane or helicopter
accidents are welcome to contact
a lawyer at Lieff Cabraser to
learn more about their legal rights, or call toll-free 1-800-541-7358
and ask to speak to an aviation law attorney. We
welcome the opportunity to answer your questions free of
charge, without obligation and in strict confidence.
About Lieff Cabraser
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a sixty-plus attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide since 1972. We have offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. We represent plaintiffs in class and group actions and in individual lawsuits in cases involving substantial losses. For the last seven years, The National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation.
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