July 20 2006 - Lawyer who sued airlines crashes plane

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PORTLAND, Ore., Jul 17, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- An attorney specializing in suits related to aviation disasters has died after crashing his vintage plane at the Oregon International Airshow.

Robert Guilford, 73, crashed his plane shortly after taking off Sunday at the airshow, the Portland (Ore.) Oregonian reported Monday.

Guilford, a former federal prosecutor, was a licensed pilot and vintage airplane expert who worked at California law firm Baum Hedlund, which handles serious personal injury and wrongful death cases related to commercial transportation accidents, the Oregonian reported.

The law firm was employed in the cases of more than 55 airline crashes, including the 1996 wreck of TWA Flight 800 near East Moriches N.Y., and the crash of an Egypt Air flight near Nantucket, Mass., in 1999.

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