Douglas A. Latto is a partner in the firm and he specializes in aviation accident litigation involving catastrophic injuries and death. Mr. Latto has been a part of the Baumeister & Samuels aviation litigation team for over eleven years, and he has been appointed to numerous Plaintiffs’ Steering Committees responsible for conducting litigation on behalf of all individuals killed in an aviation disaster. Mr. Latto is currently a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in connection with the litigation arising from the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. Mr. Latto is also a member of the sub-committees responsible for the litigation arising out of the hijackings of American Airlines Flight 11 and American Airlines Flight 77, and the firm has been appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee with respect to the litigation arising out of the September 11th terrorist atrocities. He was also a member of the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee in the Swissair Flight 111 litigation and was actively involved in both the EgyptAir Flight 990 and TWA Flight 800 mass disaster actions.
Mr. Latto was also heavily involved in the litigation arising from the crash of Comair Flight 3272, which crashed as the result of an in-flight icing event in January 1997. Also, as a result of his involvement in the litigations arising from the crashes of ValuJet Flight 592 and Air Midwest Flight 5481, Mr. Latto has extensive experience in aviation accidents caused by improper maintenance performed by outside maintenance contractors. In addition, he is currently handling a number of general aviation crashes involving claims against manufacturers, air traffic controllers, pilots and flight instructors. He has also resolved numerous actions involving rotary wing aircraft, including claims against The Boeing Company as the result of the crash of a Chinook helicopter in British Columbia, Canada, as well as against Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH with respect to the crash of a BK-117 helicopter into the East River in New York City. Mr. Latto has successfully litigated dozens of general aviation accidents, also recently concluding cases against general aviation corporate manufacturers as well as against negligent flight schools and fixed based operators.
Mr. Latto is a graduate of The American University, where he received his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, in 1991 and was a member of the Law Review and Honor Society. Mr. Latto is a member of the Aviation and Space Law Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section and the Aviation Litigation Committee for the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association. He is also the Immediate Past Chair of the Aviation Section of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, as well as a member of the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Aviation Law, and a member of the Aeronautics Committee for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
He is the author of numerous papers in the field of aviation litigation and has lectured at various symposiums and conferences, including the Southern Methodist University Space and Air Law Symposium in February 2005, Association of Trial Lawyers of America Annual Convention in Boston, Massachusetts in July 2004, the Southern Methodist University Space and Air Law Symposium in February 2002, American Bar Association Aviation Litigation Seminar in June 2002, Lawyers-Pilot Bar Association Airlaw Symposium in July 2002, American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practice Aviation Litigation Seminar in Washington, D.C. in October 2002, as well as at the annual meeting of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Aviation Law Section in Atlanta, Georgia in July, 2002. Mr. Latto was also a panelist discussing aviation litigation in the United States at Lloyd's of London in London, England in June, 2001.
