Brazilian lawyers are indignant with what they see as an invasion of their territory by American lawyers trying to be hired by the families of the victims of the Boeing 737, which fell in the Amazon killing all 154 people aboard.
On Monday, November 6, two US law offices filed suits on behalf of these families in two US courts, opening with it seems like a long season of lawsuits feeding from the Brazilian tragedy.
The Espírito Santo state’s Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) is not taking it lightly though and decided to charge American attorney Charles B. Musslewhite with illegal exercise of the legal profession.
The OAB accuses him of advertising his services in Brazilian newspapers, something that is forbidden by the Association’s Federal Board and by the Brazilian legislation.
The case was brought to the attention of the OAB’s national president, Roberto Busato and Musslewhite is being threatened with prison if he insists on meeting families whom he has already contacted.
Amim Sucre Zeituni, a spokesperson for the American lawyer, says that he was not doing anything that would be considered illegal in the United States.
"Before placing the ad, we talked to a lawyer in Brazil and he told us that this is not illegal in the country," said Zeituni, without naming, however, the Brazilian lawyer who gave them such information.
Musslewhite published ads in newspapers from Vitória (capital of Espírito Santo) and Cachoeiro presenting himself as representing a Law Office from Houston, Texas. The ad copy tells that his intention is "to represent the families of the victims of Gol’s 1907 flight before the United States tribunals."
Another ad published Monday. November 6, is an invitation from the lawyer to 10 relatives for a meeting, today, November 8, in the Plaza Hotel.
In an interview with CBN Radio, the president of OAB’s Vitória branch, Agesandro da Costa Pereira reprimanded the American lawyer for his behavior and told those touched by the tragedy to look for Brazilian professionals:
"What this lawyer is doing is forbidden by the ethics code we have. He cannot harass any client, but should wait that the client look for him. That is called illegal client baiting and constitutes disciplinary offense. My advice to the victims’ relatives is that they look for Brazilian lawyers, who are respected for their names, their conduct and their dignity."
According to Ertélvio Monteiro Nunes, the brother of Erthelviane Bortolozo, one of the accident’s victims, some American lawyers were staying at the same hotel where the relatives of the dead had been put up by Gol Airlines. Nunes said the harassment was constant and the Americans even called the private phones of some of them.
The Gol’s Boeing 737 collided in mid-air with a Legacy executive jet, which had been bought by ExcelAire, an air-taxi company based in New York. The Legacy’s pilots, Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino, have had their passports confiscated and they are not allowed to leave Brazil. The Legacy has also been detained to guarantee payment of possible court expenses.
No Time for SOS
According to a report from TV Bandeirantes, a probe conducted on the Boeing’s black box reveals that the pilots of Flight 1907 didn’t have the time even to send a SOS after the plane was hit by the Legacy.
The aircraft’s voice recorder doesn’t show any scream or request for help from the Boeing’s crew. Investigators say that this is proof that the crew and passengers became unconscious immediately after the collision with the smaller plane, plummeting to earth in accelerated rotation.
The Boeing also didn’t execute any abrupt maneuver, what would indicate that the pilots never saw the small plane coming from the opposite direction.
Show Comments (7)
Norman Kemble
to ch.c
Probably from knowing the kind of pilots excel employs
ch.c.
To realgivp !
How can you assume that the transponder was turned off ?
Free speculation…or with proven facts ?
Oy!
Here come the lawyers
To make the situation worse. Great Thats all we need now! 🙁
ex pat
I must agree with Rick
and we should also heed ShakespeareÀ¢€™s advice and À¢€œkill all the lawyersÀ¢€Â. TheyÀ¢€™re little more then bottom-dwelling single celled parasites that should hunted down and exterminated wherever and whenever they appear.
Rick
Time was when the urubus (vultures) would help locate airline crashes in the Amazon. Now the urubus wear expensive suits and carry designer briefcases. Read The King of Torts by John Grisham. Brazil needs to be careful in its move toward Responsabilidade Civil lest it go the way of the USA in this area. Lawyers are why airplanes are so expensive. By the way, good luck in collecting anything from Excell.
Norman Kemble
Transponder
No, the transponders need to À¢€œtalkÀ¢€Â to each other and that is why there was no warning for the GOL flight to respond to. Once the transponder was turned off by the legacy, not only was the information lost to ATC there was no information for the GOL transponder to receive and respond to. The TCAS system is set up for transponders to share flight information with each other and determine the best course of action for each aircraft to avoid a collision.
Stephen
Gol Transpondor
No one comments if the transpondor on the GOl aircraft was turned on? was working? Why is this? If the legacy transpondor was off still would not the Gol detect and emitt a warning? That is the whole point of every aircraft having there own warning system.Lets have some input from others on this .Please and thank you!