Practice Areas Overview

At the Law Offices of Sterns & Walker, our practice is mainly limited to representing victims of aviation and other major accidents in civil actions for personal injury or wrongful death against the parties responsible for the accident.  Most cases center around issues of general negligence or products liability.

Negligence

The theory underlying a negligence claim is that one person breached a duty of care owed to another, and that breach caused injury to the other person.  We all owe a general duty of care to everyone else to act in a reasonable and prudent manner in whatever activity we are engaged in.  Professionals are held to a different standard of care.  Doctors, for instance, are expected to possess the skills, knowledge and abilities of other doctors in their field, and to practice with the skill and care commensurate to that expectation.  Pilots, as well, are expected to possess the skills and knowledge of the ordinary pilot in the industry, and to exercise reasonable and ordinary care in flying that is expected of all pilots.

An even higher duty of care is placed on the airlines themselves.  As "common carriers" who are in the business of transporting people for money, airlines are required to use the utmost care and diligence to provide for their passengers safety.  If the airline has not properly maintained its equipment, has not properly trained its employees, or has scheduled flights under dangerous circumstances, then it has breached its duty of care owed to the passengers.

Causation is sometimes a difficult area in the civil torts case.  The breach of duty must be both the factual and legal (proximate) cause of the injury.  The legal element of causation requires that no intervening cause or public policy operates to cut off liability.  For instance, a bird strike may appear to be the cause of a plane accident.  But was the plane properly flying on course at the time?  Could the pilot have taken evasive action?  Could the plane have reasonably been designed and manufactured in such a way that this accident would not have happened?  An example of a public policy argument could be a plane with engine trouble that makes an emergency landing in a field, saving the lives of the passengers and crew but damaging the farmer's crops on the ground.  Should the airline be held responsible for the damage caused?  Causation is often a complicated issue requiring a strong legal background and excellent persuasive skills in the courtroom.

Products Liability

Products liability comes into play when a product or piece of equipment is the cause of the injury.  If this is the case, the manufacturer or seller of the product may be held liable.  Liability can attach when a product is:

• Defectively designed
• Defectively manufactured
• Contains inadequate warnings or instructions on safe operation

In a products liability case, the plaintiff does not normally have to prove negligence or fault on the part of the defendant.  If the product was defective or unsafe at the time it left the manufacturer or seller, and the product was used in its intended or a reasonably foreseeable manner, then the manufacturer may be liable for any injuries caused.

While human or "pilot" error is most frequently ascribed as the cause of a crash, investigations reveal countless incidents where defective design or manufacture is the true cause of the accident.  Even if the pilot or crew did not do everything correctly, there is often an equipment failure or bad design that contributed to the crash, sometimes called "design-induced pilot error.  Correctly determining, proportioning and assigning liability is often a large part of the aviation accident case.

The Proper Defendant

"Pilot error" is a term often used, but one must not overlook the possibility that the manufacturer of the airplane or a component part is truly the negligent party.  Crash investigations are lengthy and complex activities, but when a dramatic plane crash makes headlines, the media wants a responsible party, and the large corporations are often all too eager to place the blame on human error, often on the flight crew who died doing everything possible to prevent tragedy and are not available to defend their actions or tell their side of the story. 

Hearing that the flight crew was responsible for the accident is emotionally devastating on the families of the crew, who live their lives plagued with guilt and doubt, never knowing what happened in those final minutes.  At Sterns & Walker, our commitment is to justice for the victims of the disaster, but we never forget that the crew are victims of the accident just like the passengers are.  As you can see from viewing our Representative Cases, we have been fighting for the rights of the flight crew when they have been unfairly targeted for over forty years.  Rest assured that we will make a diligent investigation into the true cause of the crash, seeking vindication for crew when they are unfairly blamed, and obtaining settlements and verdicts against those who should be truly held responsible.

Our team of attorneys and experts are ready to take on the airlines or airplane manufacturers anywhere in the world and hold them accountable when people have been killed or seriously injured due to negligence in operating their business or manufacturing dangerously unsafe equipment.  Contact the Law Offices of Sterns & Walker to discuss your case.