U.S. Law Prohibits Solicitation For 45 Days After A Crash

As if the fallout from the recent crash of an Asiana Boeing 777 in San Francisco has not been politically charged enough, now the NTSB says it is investigating complaints of what it calls "air crash chasing" attorneys. In the automotive world the term is "ambulance chaser" and it is not a compliment to any attorney.

The website Epoch Times.com, relaying a report by The Associated Press reports the NTSB has received an unspecified number of complaints about attorney solicitations arising from the July 6th crash in San Francisco that left three dead and 180 others injured. At issue is the 1986 law that set out the responsibilities the airlines and the NTSB to aid victims and their families of an air crash. The law was passed after complaints from families that they were being left in the dark about their loved ones for far too long.

The law also addressed complaints about unseemly attorneys soliciting business in the wake of several high profile air disasters. The original moratorium was 30 days but that was later expanded to 45. Lawyers can be fined $1,000 per violations.

NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said the complaints involved attorney websites directed at passengers of the flight and reports of attorneys approaching passengers in person to solicit business. So far the NTSB has reported just one firm, Chicago-based Ribbeck Law Chartered, to the Illinois agency that regulates attorneys for further investigation.

Ribbeck attorney Monica Kelly says the firm has done nothing wrong. “We were invited by Chinese government officials in China and the United States, including their local diplomats, to meet their Chinese nationals to represent them,” Kelly said in an email to The Associated Press. She said the firm’s representative in Shanghai also was “contacted by a group of families affected by this tragedy seeking legal representation.”

The firm says it is investigating the cause of the accidents for 83 passengers and that they have represented victims of previous air accidents.

William Wang, Ribbeck’s Shanghai-based lawyer, told the AP that he talked to passengers and their families in China.

“I told them that USA would be the right place to sue instead of China or Korea. I told them that even the ones who had not been injured could sue as well, because there could be mental effects,” Wang said in an interview. “I gave them the files which had been offered by Ribbeck Law in USA, and I did the translation.”

The Associated Press reports that Wang used the social media outlet Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, to discuss the Asiana crash.

“Entrusted by American lawyers, I request that Asiana Airlines air crash families contact me,” Wang wrote in Chinese on the morning of July 11. “This air crash happened in the United States and involves complicated legal issues. I request that families act with extra caution in the claims settlement that will follow. I hope that things will go smoothly for everyone!”

Wang later posted another message on Sina Weibo explaining that “lawyers in Chicago who specialize in air crashes” would be visiting Asiana passengers and their families at a hotel near the San Francisco airport.

“This is a good opportunity to handle the follow-up from the air crash,” Wang wrote.

In an interview, Wang declined to comment on whether his blog posts may have violated the 45-day rule. However, he said that he believed the rule unfairly gives airline companies the opportunity to offer passengers settlements in amounts less than they deserve in return for the passengers relinquishing their rights to join lawsuits.

He said passengers should have the right to the best possible legal advice before entering into such an agreement.

“After the plane crash happened, if we were to strictly follow the 45-day rule and wait until the period is over, the rights of the victims and their families would have long been hurt by some greedy insurance companies, which could have fooled them into signing settlements,” said Wang. “The 45-day rule is actually an unjust one for the victims.”

The NTSB offered no comment on Wang's statements. However, Professor Richard Zitrin, who teaches legal ethics at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, said Wang’s communications may be a violation of the moratorium even though they occurred on foreign soil.

FMI: www.theepochtimes.com, www.ntsb.gov