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Allan Bower has had a distinguished career as an attorney with a superb track record in representing both plaintiffs and defendants. He has held the coveted AV Rating from Martindale Hubbell for more than 30 years. He has tried more than 50 cases to verdict in State and Federal Courts. As an attorney representing plaintiffs in personal injury and property damage claims he has never had a defense verdict rendered against his client. As a defense attorney he has never, in the past 25 years, had a verdict rendered against his client which was higher than the amount offered in settlement prior to trial.
Mr. Bower grew up in Winnetka, Illinois and attended Vanderbilt University before transferring to the University of Iowa where he received a degree in Chemistry and Engineering. Following graduation he moved to Miami where he became Program Coordinator for ABC Radio. He attended the University of Miami Law School and graduated in 1968. He then moved to California to commence his legal career.
As a new attorney Mr. Bower gained trial experience under the tutelage of Gary Sawtelle, who stopped counting the number of jury trials handled after 300. Mr. Bower was soon handling jury trials on his own. He was recruited by the law offices of Ned Good, who was at that time the premier plaintiff’s aviation attorneys in Los Angeles. Mr. Bower handled case selection, pre trial preparation and trials, acquiring an unblemished record representing personal injury and wrongful death plaintiffs. In one of those cases, Newing v. Cheatham, Mr. Bower obtained a plaintiff’s verdict for the heirs of a passenger who died in an accident in Mexico where there was no direct evidence of what caused the accident. Based upon jury instructions propounded by Mr. Bower the jury found for plaintiff based on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. That verdict was upheld by the California Supreme Court in a published decision which established a precedent which is still the law in California. That case has been cited in numerous other states for the same proposition.
After leaving Mr. Good’s office, Mr. Bower became a sole practitioner and continued his career as an attorney handling cases for plaintiffs and also representing defendants. In 1980 he joined the offices of Kern and Wooley where he handled the defense of aircraft pilots, mechanics, component parts manufacturers and aircraft manufacturers. During his tenure he successfully defended numerous aerospace companies throughout the United States, including Parker Hannifin Corporation (manufacturer of numerous aircraft components), Airborne Manufacturing Company (manufacturer of general aviation vacuum pumps and fuel selector valves), Learjet Corporation (manufacturer of Learjet airplanes), Hughes Helicopters, Inc. (manufacturer of light helicopters), Cleveland Wheel and Brake (manufacturer of aircraft wheels and brake assemblies), Leigh Systems, Inc. (manufacturer of emergency locator transmitters), Narco Avionics (manufacturer of emergency locator transmitters and other avionics equipment) and Aeroquip (manufacturer of aircraft fuel hoses and other components). In a wrongful death case he successfully defended Leigh Systems, Inc. in a case involving an in flight fire aboard the aircraft. While there was substantial evidence that the defendant’s emergency locator transmitter batteries were defective, the jury was persuaded that the ELT did not cause the accident and that the fire was caused by an incendiary device which had been placed aboard the aircraft.
In 1988 Mr. Bower joined the firm of Bronson, Bronson Bronson and McKinnon and continued his defense of aircraft companies involved in military, commercial and general aviation matters. He successfully defended Precision Sensors, Inc. in a wrongful death lawsuit arising out of an ejection seat malfunction. He also defended Aeroquip in a serious wrongful death lawsuit, obtaining a voluntary dismissal before trial.
In 1990 Mr. Bower became a partner in the Los Angeles office of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky where he continued his defense of aircraft matters. He defended claims against various companies including Honeywell (manufacturer of airline components) and Century Systems, Inc., manufacturer of general aviation autopilots.
In 1999 Mr. Bower became a partner in the offices of Bailey and Marzano, Santa Monica, California where he continued to defend technical aviation matters. In a case carried over from Lane Powell Mr. Bower, in conjunction with his partner Jon Morse, supervised and directed the defense of Vickers Aerospace Marine Defense in two cases pending in France. In both cases the airline and its insurer claimed more than $15 million in damages arising out of a fire originating at the Vickers Electric Hydraulic Pump. Both cases resulted in judgment for Vickers.
In another case carried over from Lane Powell, Mr. Bower and Mr. Morse successfully defended a peripheral defendant in the litigation arising out of the January 1, 2001 crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 near Los Angeles. While most of the defendants were mired in extensive and costly litigation Mr. Bower and Mr. Morse obtained summary judgment for their client, thus extracting this defendant from the case without having to engage in settlement negotiations or pay any contribution toward the settlements.
Mr. Bower is presently of counsel with The Morse Law Group and is available for consultation in litigation matters.
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