by Last night there was a mid-air collision between a US Army Blackhawk helicopter with three crewman onboard and an American Airlines commuter jet with 60 passengers and 4 crew onboard. It happened as the commuter jet flying from Wichita, KS was on final approach to Reagan DC National Airport. A number of the passengers on the commuter jet were figure skaters, their coaches, and family returning from a development camp following the US Figure Skating Nationals. The DC Fire and EMS Chief has said he didn’t believe there were any survivors for either aircraft.
This is a tragedy any way one looks at it. It is a time for prayer for the victims and their families and a time to begin the investigation so mishaps like this don’t happen again. As of now, we don’t know why one collided with the other but just that they did.
With this as background, you will understand my anger and disgust at receiving an email at 10:39PM yesterday from a public relations flack for a Chicago personal injury law firm. The email asked whether I wanted to interview or request a further statement from attorney Robert Clifford, a supposed aviation attorney, of the Clifford Law Firm. Clifford is identified as the lead counsel in pending litigation against Boeing concerning a crash from six years ago that left 157 dead. His bio states, “Mr. Clifford has represented those injured or killed in every major commercial airline crash in the U.S. in the last four decades.”
The firm’s website says the firm and its attorneys are “Recognized leaders in personal injury and wrongful death case litigation in medical malpractice, train, bus, construction, transportation, aviation litigation, and other matters.”
The email, other than stating the obvious that the NTSB will be involved, is a thinly veiled attempt to get in front of the victims’ families and sign them up as clients.
This is disgusting. I have heard of ambulance chasing but this takes it to another level. At 10:39PM last night, we were still holding out hope that rescuers might have found some passengers or crew alive.
As I said in the headline, some lawyers are just scum. They can pretty it up by saying how they do this or that for charity or the legal profession but that is just window dressing.