Highly experienced with that aircraft in particular, aviation attorneys at Clifford Law Offices said every possibility has to be considered when a plane suddenly falls from the sky in mid-flight. Clifford Law Offices was Lead Counsel in the crash of the same type of aircraft, an ATR turboprop, in the 1994 crash in Roselawn, Indiana, killing all 68 on board in a short flight from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Chicago. There, it was found that the plane that suffered a loss of aileron control due to ice accretion that the plane’s boot mechanism was unable to kick off, leading it to crash from 16,000 feet.

Early reports from Brazil indicate that this plane was about 17,000 feet in the air when it also appeared to lose control before spiraling down in a residential neighborhood with rainy conditions at the surface. The winter weather in Brazil at this time of year means that the temperature was about zero degrees at that height, similar to the weather during the Roselawn, Indiana crash. That crash led the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to issue dozens of safety recommendations that resulted in numerous ATR airplane design and operational changes.

“At this stage, nothing can be ruled out,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices and Lead Counsel of the Boeing 737 MAX8 aircraft that crashed in Ethiopia, killing all 157 on board. “As we found out in the Roselawn crash, the formation of ice on a plane during flight is highly dangerous because it can change the performance and stability and control characteristics, which can then quickly lead to catastrophic loss of control. Data from the airplane’s ‘black boxes’ should soon help investigators determine the causal issues and begin giving the victim families some idea of what happened and why.”

The Brazilian airline VoePass provided a manifest that indicated 58 passengers and four crew members were aboard Flight 2283 when the ATR 72 turboprop crashed Friday afternoon (August 9, 2024). Flight tracking website Flightradar24 reportedly said data sent from the plane indicated it was diving at 8,000 to 24,000 feet per minute in the last 60 seconds of the flight before it crashed about 1:30 p.m. local time.

ATR’s are manufactured by a joint venture of Airbus in France and Italy’s Leonardo S.p.A.

Clifford Law Offices also represented the family of Brazilian entrepreneur Matias Machline and his wife Marina who were killed in a helicopter crash in New York in 1994. Weather was a factor in that crash.

For further information or to speak to one of the aviation attorneys at Clifford Law Offices, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).

The post Aviation Law Firm Representing Victims in Previous Similar ATR Crash Comment on Possible Cause of Tragic Plane Crash in Brazil appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

NEC is an intestinal disorder causing intestinal inflammation that may cause holes in the intestine. Bacteria from the intestine can leak into the abdomen or blood, causing serious illness or deadly blood infections.

These newborn NEC formula lawsuits generally allege that the makers of these formulas knew of the risk of NEC and did nothing to warn families and continued to market them as safe.

Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, authored an informative column on the pending cases in federal district court.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October announced it had adopted guidelines in response to the massive baby formula recall and shortage in 2022 linked to a deadly pathogen. Authorities say new federal guidelines aimed at strengthening oversight and regulation of the U.S. powdered infant formula market are making an impact. In August 2023, the FDA issued letters of warning to three infant formula manufacturers as part of the agency’s ongoing commitment to enhance regulatory oversight to ensure the industry is producing infant formula under the safest conditions possible.”

Read more about this serious issue in Clifford’s latest column in the Chicago Lawyer, “Taking Shape.”

The post Bob Clifford Authors Article About Numerous Toxic Baby Formula Cases in Illinois appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

Courtney outlines Rule 30(b)(6)’s unique components and its significance in personal injury and medical malpractice cases. She illustrates how corporate representative depositions can strategically advantage plaintiffs’ attorneys in a range of legal scenarios.

To read Courtney’s article in full, click here.

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Kevin P. Durkin, partner at the firm, along with co-counsel Daniel L. Clayton of Nashville, Tennessee, filed the case in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago on behalf of the family of Duane Tabinski, 53, who was electrocuted June 30, 2023, as he worked to put together necessary audio components near Grant Park as part of the activities. Duane was retained by NASCAR as a contractor to work on the event’s race stage and racetrack, and to provide the speakers and microphones for the announcers and grandstands near Buckingham Fountain.

The complaint, filed on March 19, alleges that NASCAR, the Chicago Park District, and others in charge of the construction were negligent in their failing to take proper safety precautions to protect Tabinski. The lawsuit was filed by his widow, Kristin Tabinski. Duane, founder of his own audio company out of Nashville, Tennessee, also left behind two children.

“This was a horrible tragedy for the Tabinski family. What happened last summer in the course of the setting up of the NASCAR race in Chicago was entirely preventable and it cannot happen again,” Durkin said. “There was a terrible lapse in safety that led to the unfortunate death of Duane Tabinski.”

The lawsuit claims NASCAR failed to properly maintain a safe condition, failed to inspect the premises, and failed to comply with industry standards related to the event’s production. The lawsuit also names United Rentals, the company that provided the electrical equipment for the event; Four Lead Productions, an event services provider; Malo Communications Services, an electrical company; and McGuire Scenic, a set design company. The Chicago Park District is named for negligence by engaging in willful and wanton misconduct in its failure to ensure both Four Lead and NASCAR provide proper staging and production of the event.

Chicago is expected to hold a second NASCAR street race July 6-7, 2024, on what appears to be the same 2.2-mile course.

For further information, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).

The post Clifford Law Offices Filed Lawsuit Against NASCAR and Chicago Park District for Worker’s Death During 2023 Chicago Street Races appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

Antonio DeAngelo of Hoffman Estates, then age 37, is permanently disabled following Advocate Physician Partners’ failure to treat DeAngelo’s abnormally high blood pressure that led to his suffering a debilitating stroke. Instead, the physician treated him with an antibiotic for flu-like symptoms in January 2015 and failed to follow up with any care despite knowing of the patient’s hypertension.

THE FAMILY AND LAWYERS SPOKE TO THE PRESS ON FRIDAY, MARCH 1, AT 2 P.M. AT 120 N. LASALLE ST., 36TH FLOOR, CHICAGO. THE PRESS CONFERENCE WAS ALSO HELD LIVE VIA ZOOM. SEE THE FOOTAGE BELOW.

“This man should be enjoying life to the fullest now. Instead, he finds himself struggling to get through every day,” Cosgrove said following the verdict. “The negligence of the medical providers here and their lack of accountability simply is uncalled for, and the jury did what was right and just. He will need a lifetime of care that his family simply cannot undertake.”

The six-man-six-woman jury deliberated four hours before Judge Preston Jones, Jr., of the Cook County Circuit Court before rendering its verdict late Thursday evening at the Daley Center. Devin J. Piper, associate at Clifford Law Offices, assisted at trial.

DeAngelo, a landscaper and landscape designer in the western suburbs, was suffering from a persistent cough when he went to a local pharmacy for care in 2015. It was there that it was discovered he had an elevated blood pressure of 132/82, and it was recommended he see a doctor to determine if he was suffering from hypertension. DeAngelo did so through his HMO plan seeing a primary care physician and complaining of trouble breathing in late January 2015. At that time, DeAngelo’s blood pressure had spiked to 190/102. The primary care physician’s diagnosis included acute bronchitis, elevated blood pressure, tachycardia, and morbid obesity. He did not treat DeAngelo’s high blood pressure or other diagnosed medical conditions.

About four weeks later, on March 11, DeAngelo’s co-workers observed him in distress and called 911. He was taken by ambulance to Loyola University Health System with blood pressure measuring 290/190, and it was discovered he suffered a hemorrhaging stroke. The jury found that the primary care physician failed to properly test or treat the patient including ordering an EKG, urinalysis, blood work, lab tests, or referring him to a cardiologist, despite his family history of hypertension.

After spending more than a year at the RIC/Shirley Ryan Ability Lab where he underwent physical, occupational, and speech therapy, DeAngelo has hemiparesis, and still is unable to walk long distances, unable to drive, dress, bathe or eat without assistance, and suffers speech issues from brain damage from the stroke. His right dominant hand is non-functioning. He is unable to work the rest of his life and requires lifetime care for what is expected to be a normal life span.

The verdict includes $20 million for disability. The couple have two children who then were aged 8 and 5.

For further information, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).

Case: DeAngelo v. Advocate Health Partners, d/b/a Advocate Physician Partners, No. 2020 L 2605.

Defense Counsel:

On behalf of Advocate Health Partners d/b/a Advocate Physician Partners: (Guilty)
Marni Slavick
Kipp Cornell
Cunningham, Meyer & Vedrine, P.C.
One E. Wacher Dr., Suite 2200
Chicago, IL 60601

On behalf of Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., d/b/a Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital (found Not Guilty):
Stetson Atwood
Scott Kater
Donohue, Brown, Mathewson & Smyth, LLC
140 S. Dearborn St., Suite 800
Chicago, IL 60603
312-422-0900

Media

• Complaint – Filed
• DeAngelo Verdict form – signed
• Jennifer DeAngelo Statement
• Press Conference Footage:

• Photos Courtersy of Clifford Law Offices (click on the images below):

The post Clifford Law Offices Receives $39.9 Million Record Verdict Against Advocate Physician Partners; Press Conference with Family on March 1 appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, represents some 70 victims in that crash, including families from Africa, that is pending in federal district court in Chicago. He also has represented the victims of many helicopter crashes and questions the decision of pilots and others to take off in what is described as difficult weather conditions.

“The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators will thoroughly examine all aspects of what led up to the crash and ultimately will use their expertise to determine the probable cause of this crash to see if it was avoidable,” Clifford said. “It is always a horrific tragedy when innocent lives are lost in an aviation disaster.”

Herbert Wigwe, 57, CEO of one is Nigeria’s top banks, and his wife and son were on that Airbus Eurocopter EC130 helicopter when it crashed late Saturday near Interstate 15 in Southern California’s Mojave Desert. All six people on board were killed, including Bamofin Abimbola Ogunbanjo, former chair of NGX Group, the Nigerian stock exchange and two pilots.

The chopper was heading from Palm Springs Airport in California to Boulder City, Nevada, about 80 miles from Las Vegas when it crashed about 10 p.m. local time Saturday The French-made helicopter was chartered from Orbic Air, LLC in Burbank. An NTSB spokesman said the helicopter was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder, but that all major components of the aircraft have been found. The debris from the crash was about 100 yards long, according to reports.

Logs from the California Highway Patrol show there was rain and snow in the area at about the time of the crash. Witnesses reported that it was raining with a “wintry mix” at the time of the crash, according to the NTSB. People also reported a fire on the helicopter plus some downed power lines.

Wigwe, a highly successful businessman and considered a “visionary leader,” also had interests in the education sector. His private university, founded in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region where he was from, is scheduled to open in September. Last year he was quoted as saying the university was “an opportunity for me to give back to society.”

For further information, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).

The post Bob Clifford Speaks Out on Helicopter Crash in California appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

Clifford, with ties to Naples as a homeowner and Board of Trustees member of the Naples Children & Education Foundation, has had previous experience with this type of aircraft. He represented NBC sports executive Dick Ebersol and his wife actress Susan Saint James, when the same type of plane crashed in Colorado in 2004, killing their teenage son.

He stated that crashes like these are “complex matters” and the team of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators will leave no stone unturned in determining the probable cause of both engines losing power on the twin-engine aircraft at 18,000 feet. The NTSB preliminary report is expected in 30 days as they inspect every part of the aircraft as well as the black boxes.

“The black boxes on the plane hold a lot of answers, but I have found from my experience that these crashes are not simply solved,” added Clifford. “They are complex events, and the fact that three people on the plane and those on the ground survived is a miracle. It is a credit to the pilots who appeared to have done everything they could to save lives while sacrificing their own. They simply couldn’t make it to the airport but in choosing the Interstate as a possible landing strip, they avoided hitting as many vehicles as possible. They will likely be found to be the true heroes here.”

He went on to say, “The NTSB will review the activities of that aircraft minute-by-minute that day as well as the credentials of the pilots and their experience with the aircraft. The investigators also will look very closely at the fuel load of the aircraft. Specifically, the NTSB will determine if they took on fuel in Columbus after the aircraft left the Florida base. And also, the investigators will closely examine the fuel quantity system to determine if it provided the pilots with accurate information.”

In the aftermath, observers are saying that Collier County rescue squads were already on standby when Naples Airport air traffic controllers cleared every runway for the Bombardier Challenger that simply couldn’t reach the airfield.

For further information or to speak to Robert Clifford this afternoon, call Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909.

The post Bob Clifford Speaks on Naples, Florida Plane Crash appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

A Bombardier Challenger 604 jet crashed on I-75 about 3:15 p.m. EST on February 9, 2024, killing two people. The small executive jet reportedly had five people on board including two pilots when the plane crashed into a wall and involved at least one vehicle on the highway.

Robert A. Clifford, a nationally recognized aviation attorney who sits on the Board of Trustees of the Naples Children & Education Foundation who handled the case of a Bombardier Challenger jet that crashed in Colorado, is available to speak on this matter.

“I’ve handled cases involving every major plane crash in the United States in the last 40 years. I’ve also handled numerous executive plane crashes, including the crash of a similar Bombardier Challenger jet that killed the teenage son of NBC Executive Dick Ebersol and his wife, actress Susan Saint James,” Clifford said. “Speculation now will lead to many possibilities that caused this horrific crash. The black boxes on the plane hold a lot of answers, but I have found from my experience that these crashes are not simply solved. They are complex events, and the fact that three people survived is a miracle, although their injuries aren’t known at this time.”

The plane took off from Columbus, Ohio, and was set to land at Naples Airport before it crashed in what some witnesses described as an “explosion” near mile marker 107 near Pine Ridge Road. A huge plume of smoke engulfed the plane. The highway was closed in both directions.

It is being reported that the twin-engine plane lost both engines, considered to be a catastrophic failure. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator was on the scene Friday afternoon with more expected to arrive Saturday. The jet reportedly was chartered by Hop-A-Jet Worldwide out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

TO SPEAK TO ROBERT CLIFFORD, PLEASE CONTACT HIM AT 312-758-9090. HE IS AVAILABLE VIA PHONE OR ZOOM.

For further information or to speak to Robert A. Clifford, please contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).

Watch and read Clifford’s interviews on this matter here.

The post Bombardier Challenger Plane Crashes in Naples, Florida appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

The incident has led to a federal investigation, and a number of planes have been grounded for safety concerns. Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago and Lead Counsel in the U.S. federal district court litigation involving the 2019 Boeing 737 Max8 jet crash that occurred in Ethiopia, was interviewed by WGN Radio, CNN, Associated Press, the Washington Post, Portland reporters and many other outlets regarding the incident.

“The public interest in safe travel requires a closer look at Boeing’s priorities and processes. It must have been completely frightening for all of those passengers on Flight 1282 not knowing if those were their last moments of life,” Clifford said.

He told CNN, “This incident with the Max9 should force the aviation community, particularly government regulators, to determine if the Boeing Max8 was allowed to fly again too hastily in Boeing’s efforts to get those planes back in the air,” he said, noting lives were saved because the plane was 16,000 feet in the air. “If something like this happened at 30,000 feet, everyone would perish.”

Listen to Bob Clifford on WGN Radio here:

For further information or to speak to Robert A. Clifford or the aviation team at Clifford Law Offices, contact the firm’s Communications Partner Pam ela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).

The post Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 Emergency Landing Leads to Federal Investigation appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounds all Boeing MAX9 aircraft across the country following the emergency landing last night (Friday, Jan. 5, 2024) of one of those planes. Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago and Lead Counsel in the pending civil litigation in federal court regarding the defective Boeing MAX8 aircraft, says that the FAA’s swift action indicates serious concerns that a defect may exist in the MAX9’s.

“The Alaska Air and FAA grounding of the MAX 9 fleet via Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) less than 24 hours after the Alaska Airlines fuselage plug structural failure is a clear indication that Boeing, Alaska Airlines, the NTSB, and the FAA have determined that there is a defect in the Boeing 737 MAX 9 plug structure. Once the FAA publishes the EAD later today we will know more specifics about the defect and FAA-required inspections.”

Clifford represents some 70 victims of families who lost loved ones in the March 2018 crash of a MAX8 Boeing jet that killed all 157 on board. The worldwide grounding of that aircraft for nearly two years took three days and the U.S. didn’t do so until 51 other regulators around the world had taken such action. The crash of ET302 was the second crash in less than five months of that type of aircraft that killed 346 people.

Alaska Airlines has grounded the Boeing MAX9 jets after a window and a chunk of the fuselage blew out of the plane shortly after takeoff, causing the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, late Friday night (Jan. 5, 2024). After about six minutes of flight, while climbing through 16,000 feet altitude at close to 450 mph, the Boeing 737 MAX left rear door plug reportedly failed under cabin pressurization and flew out into the atmosphere, instantly depressurizing the airplane and subjecting all passengers to extreme cold temperatures and hypoxia-inducing low oxygen levels. About 14 minutes of terror later, the infamous Boeing 737 MAX airliner landed back at Portland where NTSB and FAA safety investigators are once again investigating a major 737 MAX safety problem.

“The focus appears to be a plug that is the result of an overall design in the Boeing MAX9 aircraft dictated by foreign operators such as Ryan Air who added seats to the same fuselage, which most American operators chose not to do. By adding the seats, they needed another exit row,” Clifford explained. “When you don’t have the extra seats, you don’t have the exit door. That means that the plug that is supposed to have a sealing mechanism that prevents it from ever opening could be compromised. The fact that they are grounding the aircraft to order inspections likely means that the FAA is focused on the integrity of that sealing mechanism. That will then lead to a deep inquiry into what the FAA was told about that mechanism by Boeing and how it affected the certification process. Is this another MCAS story in the making? Only time will tell.”

MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) is a new software system that Boeing installed on its MAX8 aircraft without telling the FAA, pilots or the flying public. Nor was information about MCAS included in flight manuals for pilots to learn how to use and they were never trained on it prior to the two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reportedly are on the scene in Portland, Oregon, examining the damaged aircraft that reportedly rolled off the assembly line two months ago and is touted as the newest version of the Boeing 737.

For further information or to speak to Robert A. Clifford or the aviation team at Clifford Law Offices, contact the firm’s Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).

The post A Design Flaw in the Boeing MAX9 Aircraft? appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.