Kreindler & Kreindler LLP has successfully handled thousands of commercial airline disaster cases, including actions against virtually every major domestic and international airline; the large aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus; and many of the manufacturers of components and instruments used aboard commercial jets. The firm's work has been instrumental in promoting aviation safety and we have repeatedly won precedent-setting cases and secured record damage recoveries for our clients.
View a list of major cases handled by Kreindler & Kreindler LLP.
TWA Flight 800 Disaster
Kreindler & Kreindler LLP represents the largest group of families of passengers killed in the July 1996 TWA Flight 800 disaster off Long Island, New York. At the outset, many believed that a bomb or missile caused the crash. But based on our own intensive hands-on investigation, including the examination of several 747 aircraft in the California desert, the firm quickly determined that the likely cause of the disaster was a mechanical malfunction leading to an explosion in the center fuel cell. Armed with this knowledge, we filed the first suit in October 1996 against the airline and manufacturer. Three of the firm's partners were appointed by the court to the Plaintiffs' Committee, including the post of Committee Chairman.
Pan Am Lockerbie Disaster
The firm represented the largest number of families of passengers killed in the December 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The case required an investigation spanning seven different countries. Three of the firm's partners took leading roles in exhaustive international discovery, and thereafter on the trial, and won a verdict of wilful misconduct against the airline. Two of the first three damage cases we tried resulted in verdicts which set new worldwide records for recovery. We briefed, argued and defeated the airline's appeals. Our seven-year work effort resulted in the largest total recovery for a single disaster in the history of aviation. The firm continues to pursue claims on behalf of the families against the Libyan government.
Avianca Disaster
We represented the largest group of injury victims and families of passengers killed aboard an airliner which ran out of fuel and crashed in New York in 1991. Faced with the prospect of limited liability of the airline, the firm developed a negligence claim against the United States air traffic controllers who handled the aircraft. We painstakingly prepared a video recreation of the flight which placed in sharp focus the controllers' errors. After one week of trial the government agreed to a settlement which assured a complete damage recovery for all plaintiffs, even those who could not maintain their actions against the airline in the United States.
Korean Airlines Disaster
When a Korean Airlines 747 was shot down by a Soviet fighter in 1983, many believed there was no way to prove that the airline had committed "wilful misconduct," the standard necessary to recover full damages. Two of the firm's attorneys were appointed to the Committee that tried the case. We meticulously detailed the series of errors made by the pilots during the flight, won a verdict of wilful misconduct against the airline and successfully defended the verdict on appeal.
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