Insight and Commentary on aviation accidents and the law
Not necessarily.
The accident victim should retain the best aviation contingency fee attorney he can find, regardless of the attorney’s piloting credentials. Rather than asking whether the prospective attorney has a pilot’s license, the victim should ask whether the attorney has a history of successful jury verdicts in aviation cases. A record of successful verdicts is important…
The victim’s family is seldom in the best emotional state to make important decisions right after an airplane or helicopter accident. The stresses can be overwhelming. Fortunately, hiring an aviation attorney is one decision that is seldom urgent. It is a decision that, in most cases, can wait.
But how long is too long to wait?…
The costs of litigating an aviation accident case can total hundreds of thousands of dollars. The expenses may include expert fees, deposition costs, investigation costs, and court fees. Under the contingency fee agreement, the client does not pay any litigation expenses. Instead, the attorney does. The attorney is reimbursed only if there is a…
Only certain family members can sue for compensation for the loss of a loved one in an aircraft accident. Those family members may all agree to have the same attorney represent them. Though that is usually best, it is not always possible. When the family members don’t agree, or their interests diverge, each family member…
Aviation accidents are newsworthy events, and the victims’ names and hometowns often end up in the papers. When that happens, disreputable lawyers descend upon the family members, hoping to sign the families to retainer agreements when they are most vulnerable.
State ethics laws generally prohibit lawyers from making uninvited in-person or telephone contact with a victim’s …
Most victims of a helicopter or airplane accident can’t afford to pay aviation attorneys an hourly rate to investigate the cause of the crash or to take an aviation lawsuit to trial. For these people, the doors of the courthouse would be essentially closed were it not for the contingency fee agreement. The contingency fee…