Clifford Law Offices Files Lawsuits in Little Rock Crash

Clifford Law Offices will file two lawsuits Monday (June 28) in Chicago's Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of two men injured in the June 1 airline crash in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Jim Simmons, Jr., and his brother, Mark, were aboard American Airlines Flight 1420 when it slid off the rain-slicked left runway during landing and crashed into a lighting stanchion before bursting into flames. Nine of the 145 people were killed, including the pilot.

The Simmons brothers, students at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, suffered injuries to their legs, arms and backs.

"This crash was a senseless loss of life and, for those who survived, it will leave physical as well as emotional scars forever," said Robert A. Clifford, principal partner of Clifford Law Offices. Clifford has represented victims and their families of every major commercial airline crash for the last 25 years.

Clifford Law Offices is co-counsel on these cases with Norman R. Gordon of Shreveport, Louisiana.

This crash occurred as fierce hailstorms moved into the Little Rock area, with hurricane-force wind gusts registering up to 88 miles per hour.

American Airlines, it parent corporation AMR, and the estate of the pilot were named as defendants in the negligence lawsuits.

NTSB investigators reportedly said the plane's black box recording device showed that some of the airline's landing gear had not worked properly.

Flight 1420 from Dallas to Little Rock had been delayed two hours that night because of inclement weather. The pilot had been on duty for more than 13 hours, just short of the federal maximum of 14 hours, at the time of the crash. The pilots' union has since complained that American Airlines overworks them.

The deaths were the first of a commercial carrier at Little Rock's airport in its 82-year history.

Clifford, along with his partner Kevin Durkin, said the law firm is looking into all possible causes of the crash. They received a record $110 million for a number of plaintiffs in the American Eagle crash at Roselawn, Indiana, on Halloween night, 1994.

Clifford also received a record $24 million on behalf of a 70-year-old woman injured in the Sioux City, Iowa United Airlines crash as well as a record $15 million for a man who lost his wife and daughter in that 1989 incident. He was in the news earlier this year for the $30 million verdict he received on behalf of internationally-acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton who was severely injured when she was pinned to the doors of a commuter train and was dragged 366 feet.

Clifford Law Offices is a nationally-recognized firm concentrating in aviation, personal injury, wrongful death, product liability and medical malpractice litigation.