Plane Crash Video - Transcript

There is no disaster that has quite the impact on a family or survivors as an air disaster.  People are killed in car accidents.  People are killed in different ways, but people who lose their lives in air disasters seem to have a profound impact on the family and the survivors.  There is no greater horror than receiving that phone call when you know a loved one is on a flight and the flight hasn’t landed. 

I have been involved in cases like that and I have been involved in cases right from the beginning, so I have seen firsthand the impact it has on families, and one would think from a litigation standpoint, a lawsuit standpoint, that those are easy cases to handle because a plane goes down, people are injured and die, and the case is resolved.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  The airlines and the insurance industry, although sympathetic to the victims, fight tooth and nail.  One of the great things that we have at our disposal are experts in every area from weather to air traffic controllers to pilots to mechanics.  And you need to enlist those experts right from the beginning, and that’s what we do.  We bring them in right from the beginning and they become part of the investigation that is being handled by the N.T.S.B.  But back to the families, that’s the beginning of a terrible, terrible time in their lives.  They need guidance.  They need assistance.  The airlines try to get involved with the families, but they do need a spokesman.  They need someone who has been there before and who knows exactly what questions to answer and what questions not to answer. 

We represented a family of a local physician a few years ago who was killed in a plane crash and we are to this day, involved in their lives in terms of giving them guidance and assistance in the resolution of the case.   You can never bring the loved one back.  You can never make up for the loss, but what you can do is try to provide some security to that family who has lost a mother or a father and that’s what we do.  It’s not about the ultimate dollars, but it is about trying to give them peace of mind in terms of educating their children, paying their mortgage, and allowing them to deal with the other losses that we can’t make up for, and it’s through that type of effort that really makes this profession rewarding and that is something we can do for you should the unfortunate need arise.