When you become a passenger on a helicopter, you might assume they have the same safety and industry standards as commercial airlines. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Privately-owned and chartered aircrafts – such as those manufactured by Bell Helicopters – are often more susceptible to a crash.
Wisner Baum is a recognized leader in complex litigation involving plane accidents, helicopter crashes and other air disasters in the U.S. and worldwide. The firm’s experienced helicopter attorneys have represented victims in medical helicopter air‑ambulance rescue operations and work‑related helicopter accidents, including industrial and construction type operations as well as professional aerial photography and logging enterprises.
Ready to speak with a Bell Helicopter crash attorney? Contact Wisner Baum at (310) 207-3233 or submit a form online.
Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., began in 1935 as Bell Aircraft Corporation. The company has produced more than 35,000 aircraft and serves customers around the world. The company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, and has manufacturing plants in Amarillo, Texas, and Mirabel, Canada.
The company claims the invention of the tilt rotor aircraft, which purports to produce vertical lift like a helicopter for takeoff and landing, then shifts (tilts) to horizontal thrust in order to achieve speeds similar to an airplane. It boasts the ability to carry three times more cargo than traditional helicopters.
Bell helicopters have been involved in approximately 4,900 accidents, 800 of which were fatal crashes. As a result, more than 1,660 people have died. Wisner Baum has handled some of the worst aviation disasters in history, including several helicopter cases involving Bell helicopters.
The following are some of the Bell helicopter accidents we have handled, all of which have been resolved with our clients’ approval:
Give us a call at (310) 207-3233 today to get started with a free consultation.
"Wisner Baum gave exceptional attention to all aspects of the case, detailed inquiry, and tenacious overview of all the information submitted. The paralegals are efficient and diligent. I was completely surprised to find an empathic personal message to take care of my own health during the challenging time of being a full-time caretaker.*"
In May of 2019, the jury in the case of Pilliod et al. v, Monsanto Company ordered the agrochemical giant to pay $2.055 billion in damages to the plaintiffs, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a Bay Area couple in their 70s. R. Brent Wisner served as co-lead trial attorney for the Pilliods, delivering the opening and closing statements and cross-examining several of Monsanto’s experts. Wisner Baum managing shareholder, Michael Baum and attorney Pedram Esfandiary also served on the trial team in the Pilliod case.
The judge later reduced their award to $87M. Monsanto appealed the Pilliod’s verdict which the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District denied on August 9, 2021. Monsanto then requested the California Supreme Court review the appeal’s court decision, which the court denied on Nov. 17, 2021. Monsanto (Bayer) then submitted a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court which SCOTUS denied on June 27, 2022, allowing the final judgment of $87M to remain intact.
$289.2 million jury verdict in Monsanto Roundup trial
Wisner Baum co-represented Dewayne “Lee” Johnson in the first Roundup cancer lawsuit to proceed to trial. On Aug. 10, 2018, a San Francisco jury ordered Monsanto to pay $39.25 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages to Mr. Johnson, a former groundskeeper who alleged exposure to Monsanto’s herbicides caused him to develop terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Months after the jury verdict, the judge overseeing the trial reduced the punitive damages to $39.25 million. Mr. Johnson decided to accept the remittitur, bringing the adjusted amount awarded to Mr. Johnson $78.5 million.
Monsanto (Bayer) appealed the verdict and Johnson cross appealed. On July 20, 2020, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict against Monsanto but reduced Mr. Johnson’s award to $20.5 million. The company chose not to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, ending the litigation.
In 2016, Wisner Baum attorney Timothy A. Loranger and six other attorneys in the Plaintiffs’ Management Committee were able to secure a $265 million settlement for victims of the 2015 Amtrak 188 derailment in Philadelphia, one of the largest in the U.S. for 2016.
