SPEISER KRAUSE - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Managing Partner
• Partner
• Member of the Bars

Dan is an active member of the Bars of the states of Georgia, Virginia and New York. In addition to his admissions to several United States District Courts, Dan is admitted and qualified before the Supreme Court of the United States as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Dan continues to fly as a commercial, multi-engine, and instrument rated pilot. He is the past Chair of the Torts Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association and a frequent guest speaker on aviation related issues. Dan will serve as the Managing Partner of the firm's Metro, D.C office as well as the Managing Partner of Speiser Krause's new Atlanta office.

Job Titles:

• Partner
• Partner With Speiser Krause PC

Doug Latto is a partner with Speiser Krause PC and specializes in aviation accident litigation. He has been representing the victims of aviation accidents for over 25 years, and has handled numerous cases involving catastrophic injuries and death. Named a Super Lawyer many times in his career, most recently in 2019, Doug has worked on many high profile aviation accidents and was appointed Co-Lead counsel in the litigation arising out of the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 that crashed on approach to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. Doug also served as a member of the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee in connection with several commercial aviation accidents including, Comair Flight 5191, American Airlines Flight 587 and Swissair Flight 111. Additionally, he has served on the plaintiffs' sub-committees responsible for the litigation stemming from the hijackings of American Airlines Flight 11 and American Airlines Flight 77 in the September 11 th Terrorist Attacks. Doug also played active roles in the litigations arising from the crashes of EgyptAir Flight 990, TWA Flight 800, Comair Flight 3272, ValuJet Flight 592 and Air Midwest Flight 5481. Doug also has extensive experience in accidents involving general aviation aircraft, including representing family members in the mid-air collision over the Hudson River which took the lives of nine individuals. He has resolved numerous actions involving rotary and fixed wing aircraft, and has successfully litigated dozens of accidents involving claims against manufacturers, flight schools, fixed based operators, maintenance facilities, including Part 145 certified repair stations and air traffic control. In addition, Doug has litigated against some of the largest aviation manufacturers in the world including, Boeing, Airbus, Beechcraft, Cessna and Honeywell to name a few. Doug is presently working on numerous general aviation accidents, including crashes of Cessna and Beechcraft aircraft. He is also involved in representing victims of both jet and turbine powered aircraft accidents. Doug received his Juris Doctorate degree, magna cum laude, from the American University School of Law in 1991 and was a member of the Law Review and the Honor Society. He is a member of numerous professional organizations, including, serving as past chair of the American Trial Lawyers Association, now known as American Association for Justice ("AAJ"), Aviation Law Section.

Job Titles:

• Partner
• Member of the Plaintiffs' Committee

Mr. Granito was a member of the court-appointed Plaintiffs' Trial Committee in the multidistrict litigation arising out of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which obtained a jury verdict of willful misconduct against Pan Am after a 13 week trial on liability. Following the liability trial, Mr. Granito successfully litigated the damage phase of the Lockerbie litigation on behalf of the families of 60 victims of the disaster. In the aftermath of the Pan 103 litigation, the Speiser firm commenced an action against Libya on behalf of its Pan Am 103 clients pursuant to the anti-terrorism legislation that amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. As a member of the court appointed Plaintiffs' Committee, Mr. Granito met with representatives of the Libyan government in London, Paris and Tripoli and helped to negotiate the historic $2.7 billion settlement between the Pan Am 103 families and Libya. Frank and his father were awarded the 2009 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for their work on the Libya case. Mr. Granito has served as a member of the Plaintiffs' Committee in the following multidistrict mass disaster litigations: Amtrak "Sunset Limited" Train Disaster, Mobile, Alabama (1993); TWA Flight 800, Long Island, New York (1996); Swiss Air Flight 111, Halifax, Nova Scotia (1998); Egyptair Flight 990, Nantucket Island, Massachusetts (1999); Executive Airlines Jetstream Charter, Bear Creek, Pennsylvania (2000) and American Airlines Flight 587, Belle Harbor, New York (2001). Presently, Mr. Granito is a member of the Plaintiffs' Committee in the civil litigation arising out of the September 11, 2001 hijackings of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the World Trade Center Towers. He was an integral part of the litigation team that recovered $1.2 billion from American Airlines and United Airlines on behalf of certain insurance companies and business owners who suffered financial damages as consequence of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers. He is currently involved in a number of high profile general aviation matters and rail disasters.

Job Titles:

• of Counsel
• Counsel for the United States Government

Gerard R. Lear was first admitted to the Supreme Court of the State of Virginia on September 3, 1970 and has been active in aviation tort litigation since that time. Before entering private practice, he was with the Federal Aviation Administration and also served as a trial attorney with the Aviation Litigation Unit, Torts Section, United States Department of Justice. Mr. Lear has extensive experience in airline crash multi-district and complex litigation, as well as class actions involving thousands of claimants. Over the course of his career, he has had the opportunity to practice in United States District Courts and State Courts throughout the United States. His prior experience includes having served as a member of numerous Plaintiffs' Steering Committees, among them the Eastern Airlines DC-9 crash at Charlotte, North Carolina, 1974; the TWA 727 crash near Upperville, Virginia, 1974; the Air Canada DC-9 fire disaster at Cincinnati, Ohio, 1983; the Arrow Air DC-8 icing crash at Gander, Newfoundland, 1985; the Galaxy Airlines "Superbowl" Lockheed Electra Crash at Reno, Nevada of January 21, 1985; the Northwest Airlines MD-80 air crash at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, 1987; the USAir F-28 disaster at LaGuardia Airport, 1992; the USAir 737 disaster near Pittsburgh, PA, 1994; and the ValuJet tragedy of May 11, 1996. Mr. Lear has also served as counsel in the Varig 707 fire disaster near Paris, France, 1973; the Pan Am and KLM 747 collision on the Island of Tenerife, 1977; the Air Florida 737 icing disaster at Washington, D.C. 1982; the Air India 747 bombing off the coast of Ireland; the United Airlines DC-10 crash at Sioux City, Iowa, 1989; the American Eagle ATR 72 icing crash near Roselawn, Indiana, 1994; the American Airlines 757 Cali, Colombia crash of December 20, 1995; the 1999 crash of a Learjet 35 which claimed the life of champion golfer Payne Stewart and his companions; the litigation arising out of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; and the 2007 NASCAR Cessna 310 crash at Sanford, Florida. During his tenure as counsel for the United States Government, Mr. Lear was involved in a number of major air crash cases, included among them the TWA Convair 880 crash at Cincinnati airport, 1967; the Southern Airlines DC-9 air crash at Huntington, West Virginia, 1970; the Wichita State University air disaster near Silver Plume, Colorado, 1970; and the Eastern Airlines L-1011 crash in the Florida Everglades, 1972. As counsel in the cases cited above, Mr. Lear has been responsible for all aspects of pretrial procedure, discovery, trial and settlement. Many of these cases have involved multi-district proceedings and the negotiation of global settlement agreements. Several have resulted in lengthy multi-party liability trials involving highly complex issues focusing on the design, manufacture, testing, certification, and piloting of modern jet and turboprop aircraft. Designated a naval aviator in 1964, then Captain Lear served as a combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam with the United States Marine Corps. He has held commercial and instrument ratings in single-engine, multi-engine, and helicopter aircraft since 1965.

Job Titles:

• Partner

Job Titles:

• Counsel
• of Counsel

Ken and his wife Nancy have four children, Kenny, Caitlin, Elizabeth and Claire, and live in Brooklyn and Shelter Island, NY. Kenneth P. Nolan, of counsel to the firm, specializes in aviation personal injury and wrongful death litigation and trials. Ken has successfully handled million dollar verdicts and settlements in the Avianca crash at Cove Neck, New York on January 25, 1990; the USAir Flight 5050 crash at LaGuardia on September 20, 1989; the USAir Flight 405 crash at LaGuardia on March 22, 1992; the Independent Air crash in the Azores in 1988; the United Airlines Sioux City crash on July 19, 1989; the Korean Air shoot down of September 1, 1983; the Pan Am Lockerbie disaster of December 21, 1988; the Roselawn ATR crash of October 31, 1994; the ASA crash in Georgia of August 21, 1995; the US Air Flight 427 disaster near Pittsburgh of September 8, 1994; the ValuJet tragedy of May 11, 1996; the American Air Cali tragedy of December 20, 1995; the TWA Flight 800 explosion of July 17, 1996; the Korean Air crash in Guam of August 6, 1997; the Swissair tragedy near Peggy's Cove, Canada on September 2, 1998; the Egyptair crash of October 31, 1999; the US Airways crash in Charlotte, North Carolina of January 8, 2003; the American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Belle Harbor, NY of November 12, 2001; the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 where he represented 150 families, and the Comair Flight 5191 crash of August 27, 2006 in Lexington, Kentucky. He was a member of the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC) in the Swissair, Egyptair and Comair litigation, was co-lead of the PSC in the American Air Flight 587 litigation, is a member of the Executive Committee of the PSC in the September 11, 2001 civil and terrorist litigations. He was also class counsel in the Kaprun Ski Train Fire of November 11, 2000. He is presently involved representing families of victims of the Colgan Air tragedy of Feb 12, 2009 near Buffalo, N.Y. Ken has been named to the "Irish Legal 100" by The Irish Voice which lists the best 100 Irish American Lawyers in the U.S. This is the third consecutive year he has received this accolade. Ken has also been named a Super Lawyer which means he is recognized by his peers, including adversaries, as one of the top attorneys in his field.

Job Titles:

• Counsel
• of Counsel

Richard E. Genter, of counsel to the firm, was formerly a member of the Philadelphia, PA based firm, Wolk & Genter, specializing in aviation accident litigation. After twenty-four (24) years with that firm, Richard opened his own office in 2004 where he continues to concentrate his practice in the field of aircraft accident litigation. Admitted to practice in 1979, Richard has for over four (4) decades litigated complex aviation cases in numerous federal and state courts, both at the trial and appellate level. Prior to opening up his own practice in 2004 and while at Wolk & Genter, he represented victims in numerous commercial air disasters, such as Comair Flight 3272, USAir Flight 585, USAir Flight 427, Swiss Air Flight 111 and Egypt Air Flight 990. Richard has handled scores of general aviation accident cases on behalf of air crash victims and their families who have been catastrophically injured or killed in air crashes caused by defective products supplied or manufactured by airframe, engine and component part manufacturers, as well as accidents caused by the negligence of maintenance facilities, aircraft owners and operators, and air traffic controllers. Since beginning his solo practice in 2004, he has successfully handled numerous general aviation crash claims involving fixed wing and rotorcraft (civilian and military), as well as commercial aviation disasters such as the Colgan/Continental Connection Flight 3407 crash in February 2009 near Buffalo, New York, where he served on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee for that litigation. Richard is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University (B.A. with distinction 1976) and The Temple University Law School (J.D. 1979) and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania (1979), and in the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1983) and the District of Colorado (1999), as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1986) and Ninth Circuit (2001). He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court (1986). Richard is listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers in Aviation Law, holding their highest (AV) rating and is routinely named as a Super Lawyer in Aviation and Aerospace Law. He was also co-trial counsel in the National Law Journal, The Largest Verdicts in 2001 (4th largest). Richard and his wife Ruth have two children, Dan and Rebecca, and live in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.