Leading California Aviation Accident Attorneys

The trial law firm of Abramson Smith Waldsmith, LLP, is a pioneer in the field of aviation disaster litigation, having obtained the first of many jury verdicts in an airplane crash case in 1967. Since then, we have earned a national reputation for excellence in aviation law and throughout our personal injury practice. We focus on recovering damages for our clients and their family members in cases of catastrophic injury and wrongful death. We handle aviation crashes and aviation fires involving commercial jetliners, general aviation aircraft, and helicopters.

The effective practice of aviation law requires extensive knowledge and experience with complex legal issues and engineering principles, including jurisdiction and venue, international law, treaties and agreements affecting damages, statutes of repose, Federal Aviation and National Transportation Safety Board procedures and investigations, aircraft and component part manufacturer certification, manufacturing processes, and manufacturer record keeping practices and procedures.

Our attorneys have the experience and the resources to handle complex and expensive airplane accident cases against domestic and foreign aircraft and component manufacturers, such as Boeing, Airbus, Cessna, McDonnell Douglas, Piper, Beech, Learjet, GE, Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and other airplane and aviation part manufacturers. We have access to experts in aeronautics, aircraft mechanics, avionics, systems analysis, aircraft accident reconstruction, pilot and flight training, human factors, aircraft design, airframe structure, electrical systems, hydraulic systems, air traffic control procedures, and weather.

Examples of successful aviation litigation cases that our attorneys have tried include:

• Defective aircraft design, structural failure, and defective parts cases, such as those involving fuel pumps, carburetors, auto-pilot systems, pilot seat pedestals, magnetos, cockpit door locks allowing intruder into cockpit, defective flight control systems, stabilizing bars, torsion coupling, defective approach plates (maps) and mapping systems
• Human factors such as pilot error and air traffic controller negligence

We accept only a small number of airplane crash cases each year, and we devote personal attention and the strength of our experience and resources to each. If you have lost a loved one in a plane crash, please contact our law offices today for skilled and knowledgeable legal counsel.

»Airplane Accidents & Injuries Information Center

Visit our Winning Records page to see more information on the Airplane Crash cases we have settled or brought to verdict.

$12.5 million verdict, including $10.5 million punitive damages. Wrongful death and personal injury arising from a small airplane crash due to a defectively manufactured magneto on one engine of a twin engine aircraft.

$11.6 million verdict for crash of a DC-9 jet aircraft. Crash was due to a defective aeronautical navigational chart.

$3 million settlement against manufacturer of a Cessna single engine airplane. Pilot is paraglegic due to defectively designed seat.

$1 million settlement against the manufacturers of a single engine airplane and fuel injector for the wrongful death of the pilot during a crash.