Sterns & Walker In The News  

Lawyers.com Interviews Aviation Attorney Gerald Sterns On The Legality Of TSA Searches

Click to read the article titled "Pro-Passenger STRIP Act Tells TSA “Don’t Touch My Junk.”  Mr. Sterns is also the author of "Coffee, Tea or Handcuffs," and the go to guy for TSA screening.  

Attorney Gerald Sterns Interviewed by NBC on Airplane Safety

The video above does not go into The details of why it is important to litigate these matters.  Gerald Sterns offers more clarity to this issue with this statement "When a United States based commercial aircraft lessor leases an airplane to an overseas operator, the charges are set by the lessor and based on US values, i.e. what it costs them to acquire and deliver the plane, etc, monitor the lease, process the payments, and factor in enough margin to cover overhead (at US rates) and a fair profit. What any business does to stay in business. They don't give discounts because the lessee happens to be operating in a jurisdiction that does not recognize recovery of damages for wrongful death or serious injury, or only allows limited amounts therefore. This is very common, particularly in what are called the “developing countries.”

So if an aircraft is leased to Airline X in Country Y, and a breadwinner citizen of country Y is killed in a crash of such because it was defective, or the airline was incapable of operating or maintaining it safely, and the lessor knew or should have known that, and you are the widow with four dependent small children, what do you do if country Y allows very low damages for wrongful death, much less than your husband would have earned in one or two years only? And/or airline X has inadequate or no insurance? If the conduct of the lessor in making and monitoring the lease is blameworthy, why should it not be called to stand and account to the bereaved family? And why should it not be compelled to pay damages at levels comparable to US cases? It gave no discount on the rent. The restrictive laws of county Y re damages were not enacted for the benefit of the lessor company in the US; they were for the benefit of local defendants in country Y; to protect them from higher damage awards in their own country. Country Y has no interest in limiting the damages the US lessor may be compelled to pay; to the contrary, since it were to take advantage of such a limit, it would directly impact and harm the bereaved family, making it more likely that they would become a public charge in country Y, and thus either be supported by its taxpayers or struggle in the streets."

Gerald Sterns Quoted in the "7 Things You Shouldn't Say on a Plane" article

Gerald Sterns Interviewed by KTVU Channel 2 News 





The DOT hears our SOS article

Gerald Sterns Quoted in "How airlines have betrayed us" article on MSNBC




Gerald Sterns Article "Coffe, tea or handcuffs?"