California Aviation Accident Lawyer

Aviation Accident Lawyers: Danko Meredith

Nationally Recognized Aviation Trial Lawyers

Danko Meredith is one of the few plaintiff’s law firms led by attorneys who are themselves pilots.  That distinction has shaped more than three decades of aviation accident litigation. Mike Danko is an active jet and helicopter pilot with nearly 5,000 flight hours as pilot-in-command. He approaches every aviation case from the pilot’s perspective: understanding how aircraft systems actually fail, how cockpit decisions are made under pressure, and where manufacturers, maintenance facilities, and operators cut corners in ways that are invisible to lawyers without flight experience but obvious to someone who has spent thousands of hours at the controls.

Danko Meredith has tried and resolved aviation cases throughout the United States and internationally, involving virtually every category of aircraft — general aviation aircraft, helicopters of every type, turbine and piston aircraft, experimental and amateur-built aircraft, light sport aircraft, vintage aircraft, ultralights, commercial airliners, and even hot air balloons. With more than 120 years of combined trial experience among its attorneys, the firm has the resources to take on aircraft manufacturers, maintenance and overhaul facilities, operators, and insurers — and the willingness and ability to take a case to verdict when a fair settlement isn’t offered.

If you or a family member has been injured in an aviation accident, contact Danko Meredith for a free, confidential consultation.

Recognition as Aviation Trial Lawyers

Danko Meredith’s aviation practice has been recognized by leading legal rating organizations:

• Top Ten National Aviation Trial Lawyers
• Best Law Firms and Best Lawyers (2026)
• America’s Top 100 Attorneys — Lifetime Achievement
• Top 25 National Women Trial Lawyers (Kristine Keala Meredith)
• Northern California’s Top 100 Super Lawyers

Mike Danko and Kristine Meredith are also members of the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association, a national organization of attorneys who are pilots or who are passionate about aviation.

The California aviation accident lawyers of Danko Meredith have handled cases on virtually every type of general aviation aircraft disaster. That includes accidents involving ultralights, light sport aircraft, vintage aircraft, technologically advanced aircraft (such as the Cirrus), private jets, helicopters of all sorts, and even hot air balloons.

General Aviation and Helicopter Crash Litigation

Today, the overwhelming majority of fatal aviation accidents involve general aviation aircraft and helicopters — private planes, turbine and piston aircraft, helicopters of every type, and small commercial operators — rather than major airlines. These cases present distinct and difficult challenges: limited or no flight data and cockpit voice recordings, wreckage often consumed by post-impact fire, mechanical systems with dozens of interdependent components that complicate causation analysis, and NTSB investigations that can take years and that allow manufacturer participation while excluding victims’ representatives.

This is where Danko Meredith’s practice is concentrated today, and where the firm’s combination of trial experience and firsthand piloting knowledge produces results that few other firms can match. Our general aviation and helicopter crash results include:

• $51 million — settlement for the victim of a small plane crash
• $23 million — settlement for the victim of a helicopter crash
• $15 million — jury verdict in Burdett v. Teledyne Continental Motors, a brain-injury case arising from an airplane crash
• $14.9 million — jury verdict against an aircraft engine manufacturer for a passenger injured in the crash landing of a single-engine aircraft
• $14 million — settlement for families of those lost in a controlled-flight-into-terrain accident
• $13.3 million — jury verdict in Gottlieb v. Khalaf for the family of a 67-year-old pilot killed in the crash of a single-engine Cessna
• $12 million — settlement against a maintenance facility for a fatal helicopter crash
• $11 million — settlement for a passenger injured in a private jet crash
• $10 million — jury verdict in Goble v. Estate of Pike, obtained for the widow of a helicopter pilot killed in a mid-air collision with power lines, after a San Bernardino County jury determined that the other pilot — not Danko Meredith’s client’s husband — was at the controls at the time of the accident
• $9.75 million — settlement for a family injured in the crash of a tour helicopter in Kauai
• $2.9 million — jury verdict against an overhaul facility for a pilot injured in a helicopter crash
• $2.3 million — settlement for a fatal air ambulance crash
• $1.55 million — settlement for a passenger injured in a plane crash at Lake Tahoe

These results reflect cases litigated against engine and component manufacturers, maintenance and overhaul facilities, aircraft operators, and individual pilots and estates — the full range of defendants that arise in general aviation and helicopter litigation. As Goble v. Estate of Pike illustrates, that often means litigating against the estate of a pilot who did not survive the crash — a circumstance with its own distinct procedural and limitations issues, discussed below.

A Foundation Built on Major Airline Disaster Litigation

Before general aviation and helicopter crashes became the firm’s primary focus, Danko Meredith’s attorneys represented families in some of the most significant commercial aviation disasters in modern history — and were called upon to testify as experts on U.S. aviation law before courts in foreign countries. That litigation experience continues to inform every case the firm handles today. It included:

• Alaska Airlines Flight 261 — caused by an improperly lubricated horizontal stabilator jackscrew
• TWA Flight 800 — explosion of fuel-air vapor in the center fuel tank due to improper wiring
• EgyptAir Flight 990 — mechanical failure of the aircraft’s elevator control system
• American Airlines Flight 587 — design-induced pilot error
• Comair Flight 3272 — defectively designed de-icing system
• Air France Flight 4590 (Concorde) — tire explosion on takeoff
• Adam Air Flight 574 — pilot disorientation and fixation on automated systems
• Air Philippines Flight 541 — aircraft design defect

Litigating against airlines, foreign manufacturers, and the U.S. government following a major air disaster requires familiarity with specialized bodies of law — including the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions governing international air carrier liability, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act when a foreign manufacturer is government-owned, and the jurisdictional and procedural rules unique to mass aviation disaster litigation. That depth of experience, developed over decades at the highest level of aviation litigation, is brought to bear on every general aviation and helicopter case the firm takes on today.

Why Trial Experience and Pilot Knowledge Matter

Aviation defendants — manufacturers, insurers, and operators — are sophisticated litigants represented by experienced aviation defense counsel. They know which plaintiff’s firms are prepared to take a case to verdict and which are not, and they litigate accordingly.

Mike Danko’s standing as both a trial lawyer and an active pilot gives Danko Meredith a distinct advantage in these cases. He can evaluate flight data, maintenance records, and witness accounts with the same fluency as the defense’s own aviation experts — and explain those technical issues to a jury in terms a non-pilot can understand. That combination of credibility and clarity has been central to the firm’s record of verdicts and settlements across more than three decades of aviation litigation.

How Long Do You Have to File an Aviation Accident Claim?

Under California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, you generally have two years from the date of an aviation accident to file a personal injury or wrongful death claim.

If the at-fault party died in the crash. Aviation accidents are unusual among personal injury cases in how often the person responsible for causing the crash does not survive it. California Code of Civil Procedure § 366.2 imposes a strict one-year limitations period for any claim against a deceased person’s estate, regardless of how long the underlying claim would otherwise allow. This shorter deadline applies even though the general aviation statute of limitations is two years, and it can run out well before a family realizes a claim needs to be filed. Identifying every potentially liable party — including a deceased pilot’s estate — promptly after a crash is critical.

If the claim is against a government entity. The deadline is shorter still. Government Code § 911.2 requires that a claim be filed within six months of the accident, and if that claim is denied, Government Code § 911.8 gives you only six months from the denial to file suit.

Aviation cases involving out-of-state or international accidents may be subject to different limitations periods depending on where the case is filed and which law applies. Because evidence (including aircraft wreckage) can deteriorate or be lost or disposed of quickly, and because the deadlines involved can be short and unforgiving, an aviation accident attorney should be retained promptly, ideally within two to three weeks of the accident.

Most aviation accident cases Danko Meredith has handled resolve within 18 months to three years of filing.  That’s often before the NTSB even issues its probable cause report. For that reason and others, it’s the rare case where it makes sense to wait for the NTSB to complete its work before filing suit.

The Aviation Law Monitor

Mike Danko and Kristine Meredith publish the Aviation Law Monitor, a long-running resource covering legal developments in aviation accident litigation, NTSB investigations, FAA regulatory matters, and aviation safety issues for attorneys, pilots, and aviation professionals.

Contact Danko Meredith

If you or a loved one has been injured in an aviation accident — whether involving a general aviation aircraft, helicopter, experimental aircraft, or commercial airliner — contact Danko Meredith for a free consultation. We handle aviation cases on a contingency basis: there are no fees or costs unless we recover for you.