Aviation

Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, has been inducted into the Lawdragon Hall of Fame, honoring his outstanding legal career as an acclaimed personal injury attorney and the diligent work of his Chicago-based firm. Lawdragon is known for highlighting the careers of leading lawyers and sharing their stories and insights with the legal community. In his interview, Mr. Clifford discusses his initial draw to tort law over forty years ago, after…

Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, will be speaking on March 1, 2023, at the monthly First Municipal Advisory Committee meeting hosted by the Hon. E. Kenneth Wright, Jr., Presiding Judge of the First Municipal District at the Daley Center. Clifford will speak about his involvement as the Lead Counsel in the consolidated cases in federal district court in Chicago involving the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX jet in…

Major Court Ruling in Boeing Criminal Litigation; Boeing to be Arraigned Next Week on Criminal Charges Related to Aviation Crashes; Families will be Attending A Texas federal judge this afternoon (Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023) ruled that Boeing must report next Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, in a Texas courtroom to be arraigned on federal criminal charges in the deaths of the 346 who were killed in two Boeing MAX 737 airplane crashes in 2018 and 2019….

A Hawaiian Airlines flight that apparently flew into a turbulent storm over the Pacific severely injuring at least 11 people could have avoided the incident had proper precautions been taken. “In an area with known turbulence and with three flights reportedly already having been diverted earlier that day, the pilots were aware of the dangerous conditions over the ocean and should have taken every precaution to avoid the turbulent area,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder…

Robert A. Clifford and Kevin P. Durkin, partners at Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, are in Tel Aviv, Israel, working on the cases involving the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX in Ethiopia in 2019. Clifford, founder and senior partner at the firm and Lead Counsel of the litigation against Boeing in federal district court in Chicago, are traveling around the world taking depositions of many of their 70 clients from 35 countries. Earlier this…

On September 7, 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced new rules that ensure the independence of safety inspectors hired by airline companies such as Boeing. Under the Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act engineers can be hired by companies through Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) to supplement government resources. In the past, these engineers have faced pressure from large companies despite having the task of carrying out government-regulated safety oversight inspections, stating their inability to raise…

Boeing Agrees to Pay $200 Million SEC Fine for Misleading Public About Known Defective 737 MAX Aircraft; Lead Plaintiffs’ Counsel Robert Clifford Calls for Full Investigation to Determine if Actions Rose to the Level of Criminal Conduct Aircraft giant Boeing agreed Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, to pay a hefty $200 million in fines for misleading the public about the safety of its 737 MAX aircraft that crashed twice, leaving 346 people dead in 2018 and…

Kevin P. Durkin, partner at Clifford Law Offices, has been selected by Best Lawyers® as the 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” in the Chicago area for Aviation Law. “Lawyer of the Year” is a significant distinction awarded to a single lawyer with the highest overall peer feedback across each practice area and metropolitan area. Recipients are selected based on the rank of voting averages received during the peer review assessments. This designation reflects the high…

A China Eastern Boeing 737-800 crashed in southern China on Monday, March 21, 2022, killing all 123 on board, according to media reports around the world. This twin-engine plane, part of a fleet that was in use since 2015, reportedly went down in a forested area minutes after something went wrong following a deep dive from about 30,000 feet, according to FlightRadar24.com, a flight-tracking data website. “We need to know more information before any conclusions…