John A. Greaves, Aviation Disaster Attorney and Airline Transport Pilot, Member of Law Office of Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman

John A. Greaves is an experienced airline transport pilot and a former airline captain.  He is also a seasoned airline accident lawyer, Of Counsel to the national aviation disaster law firm of Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, based in Los Angeles.

After retiring from his career as an airline captain, John became an attorney and joined Baum Hedlund's aviation litigation team in the early 1990s.  Since that time he has represented hundreds of airline accident victims in more than 35 airline disasters, representing clients in virtually every major U.S. airline disaster in the last 15 years. 

He was on the legal team that negotiated one of the firm's most significant aviation litigation achievements when the firm won, as part of the settlement in the January 8, 2003 Air Midwest Flight 5481 crash in Charlotte, NC, the agreement of the airline and maintenance company, in an organized ceremony, to deliver an unprecedented official public apology to the families for the crash.

John is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers and the 2009 issue of Southern California Super Lawyers®.  He has earned Martindale Hubbell’s highest AV® Peer Review Rating.

John has been a licensed pilot for more than 40 years, five years of which were as a pilot in scheduled airlines service, and four years of which were in the capacity of captain for Comair.  He has flown over 10,000 hours flight time since 1966 and over 3,000 hours as a Captain in Part 121 and Part 135 scheduled airline operation

Details of his pilot experience include Comair Airlines, Captain; Wright Airlines, First Officer; Aero-Mech Airlines, First Officer; and Air Illinois, First Officer.  As an airline captain, John supervised flight and ground crews, ensured compliance with all FAA operations and maintenance regulations, documents and inspections.  He served six years as a Flight Instructor and four years as a Charter Pilot and Charter Company Operator.  He was Operator/President/CEO of VIP Pilot, Inc.  He was Contract Administration Committee Chairman for the Air Line Pilots Association, Council 37 and received their Distinguished Service Award.

Born:

• Kansas City, Missouri, 1948

Education:

• University of Missouri at Kansas City (B.A., 1976)
• Airline Transport Pilot License, USA (1982)
• Drake University Law School (J.D., With Honors, 1992)
• Drake University College of Business and Public Administration (M.P.A., 1992)
  

Admissions:

• Iowa, 1992
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa, 1992
• California, 1994
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 1994
• U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 1995
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, 1995
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, 1995
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, 1995
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1995
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, 1995
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York, 1996
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2000
• District of Columbia, 2001
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, 2002
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 2002
• Missouri, 2004
• US District Court, Western District of New York,  2009

Member:

• State Bar of California
• State Bar of Iowa
• District of Columbia Bar
• State Bar of Missouri
• Iowa Trial Lawyers Association
• American Bar Association, The Forum on Air and Space Law, Litigation Section and Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section
• The American Association for Justice, formerly ATLA, Aviation Law Section
• Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association
• Air Line Pilots Association
• Delta Theta Phi
• George McBurney Complex Litigation Inn of Court
• Member, Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, Atlantic Southeast Airlines Crash, near Carrollton, Georgia, 1995
• Member, Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, Singapore Airlines Crash, Taipei, Taiwan, 2000
• Member, Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, MDL-1448, American Airlines 587 Crash, Belle Harbor (Queens), New York, 2001
• Plaintiffs' Executive Committee, September 11, 2001 Tort Litigation

Lectures/Speeches:

• The 1999 Aviation Litigation Seminar by the Aviation and Space Law Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association
• "Successful Handling of Wrongful Death Cases in California," Lorman Education Services, January 2002

Author:

• "Pilot's Reaction Among Flight 3407 Crash Causes"
  Findlaw, April 16, 2009

Awards and Honors:

• Listed, Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers
• Who's Who in the World
• Who's Who in American Law
• Who's Who in America
• Who's Who in the West
• Air Line Pilots Association, Counsel 37, Distinguished Service Award
• Aviation Counsel Magazine's List of Recommended High Flyers, believed by the International Air Transport Association's Legal Dept. to be one of the most elite lists of aviation law practitioners ever produced
• National Air Disaster Foundation Safety Award, 2002
• Selected to: Southern California Super Lawyers 2009
• Selected to: Southern California Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition, 2009
  

Published Cases:

• Feazell v. Mesa Airlines, Inc., 917 S.W. 2d 895 (Tex. App. 1996)
• In re Air Crash Off Point Mugu, California, on January 30, 2000 145 F.Supp.2d 1156 (N.D.Cal., 2001)

Non-published Cases:

• In re September 11 Litigation No. 21 MC 97 (AKH), 2003 WL 22251325 (S.D.N.Y. 2003)

Practice Areas:

• Airline Crash Litigation
• Aviation Accidents
• Aviation Product Liability
• Complex and Multi-District Litigation
• Helicopter Crash Litigation
• Personal Injury Law
• Wrongful Death Law

PILOT EXPERIENCE

Ratings:

• Airline Transport Pilot Certificate, Multi-Engine Land, with type ratings for the EMB-110, SD-3, SF-340 airliners

Hours:

• 10,000 + hours total flight time since 1966
• 3,000 + hours as Captain in Part 121 and Part 135 scheduled airline operations
• 39 years as a licensed pilot
• 5 years as a pilot in scheduled airlines service, 4 years of which in the capacity of captain

Aviation Activities:

• Comair Airlines, Captain
• Wright Airlines, First Officer
• Aero-Mech Airlines, First Officer
• Air Illinois, First Officer
• As Captain; supervised flight and ground crews, ensured compliance with all FAA operations, and maintenance regulations, documents and inspections
• 6 years as a Flight Instructor
• 4 years experience as a Charter Pilot and Charter Company Operator/President/CEO of VIPilot, Inc.
• Contract Administration Committee Chairman, Air Line Pilots Association, Council 37

Awards:

• Air Line Pilots Association, Council 37, Distinguished Service Award

Qualified as Pilot-In-Command in:

• Saab-340
• SD-3
• EMB-110
• Piper Aerostar
• Piper Navajo
• Piper Seneca
• Cessna 310
• Cessna 340
• Cessna 411
• Cessna 421
• Cessna 441 Conquest
• Beechcraft 99 Airliner
• Beechcraft Baron
• Beechcraft King Air