Aviation Law

Colson Hicks Eidson is among the few law firms nationwide that have tried to conclusion the detailed and complex products liability claims arising from aviation crashes in and outside the United States.

An example of the firm’s expertise in this area is its successful conclusion of an international arbitration involving the families of passengers who perished when an AeroPeru Boeing 757  crashed off the coast of Peru. A suit was brought against AeroPeru, the airline operating the flight, and the airplane’s manufacturer, The Boeing Company, for negligence and defective design.

Members of the firm often work in conjunction with local attorneys nationwide and outside the United States. The firm represented 40 families from many different countries around the world, including the U. S., Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

Colson Hicks Eidson has also successfully litigated dozens of high profile aviation cases against airlines and manufacturers including Boeing Aircraft, Airbus, McDonnell Douglas Aircraft, Hughes Helicopters and Hughes Manufacturing, Cessna, Piper and Beech Craft Aviation.

We represent or have represented clients in the following aviation accidents, among others:

• The crash of American Airlines flight 587 near Rockaway Beach, New York, in 2002.
• Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crash in Argentina on October 10, 1997. These claims are still pending. The firm serves as co-counsel for over two-thirds of the families and victims who perished in this crash.
• ValueJet crash in the Florida Everglades on May 11, 1996.
• AeroPeru Boeing 757 crash off the coast of Lima, Peru, on October 2, 1996. This claim resulted in the largest recovery in the history of South America in an aviation case. The firm served as counsel for nearly two-thirds of the families of victims who perished in this crash.
• The shooting down of two Cessna aircraft by Cuban Air Force Migs in international waters on February 24, 1996. The case was successfully tried in Miami in 1997.
• American Airlines crash near Cali, Colombia, in 1995. 
• The wrongful death of a young United States Air Force pilot who died when his ejection system failed. The suit, against Explosive Technology Corporation and McDonnell Douglas Corporation, was successfully handled in Los Angeles, California in 1995.
• Eastern Airlines aircraft malfunction, 1983 near Miami, Florida. The suit was tried and won in Miami in 1987. 
• Avianca Airlines Boeing 747 crash in Colombia in 1987. 
• Arrow Air crash in Gander, Newfoundland, in 1985. The victims were members of the Armed Forces of the United States. 
• Air Florida jet crash in Washington, D.C. into the 14th Street Bridge in downtown Washington in 1982. 
• Eastern Airlines L-1011 crash in the Florida Everglades in 1974.

Additionally, the firm has prosecuted or is pursuing claims against major aircraft manufacturers and operators as a result of defects in pressurization, autopilot and fuel systems, and aircraft design and maintenance.

Our offices are conveniently located for clients throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, Florida. We also serve clients nationwide and regularly travel to our clients’ homes and offices.