Attorney Biography
William Angelley
William Angelley focuses on aviation, products liability and business litigation. Having practiced in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, Mr. Angelley has litigated and been lead trial counsel in cases pending in state and federal courts throughout the United States.
Prior to attending law school at the University of Texas, Mr. Angelley served as a pilot in the United States Navy. During his six year tenure there, he accumulated significant time in fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. He also served as a detachment maintenance officer and operations officer for his squadron. Mr. Angelley holds commercial pilot ratings in both airplanes and helicopters.
Mr. Angelley began his career in Dallas defending aviation insurance companies, maintenance facilities and manufacturers. Using the expertise he gained during these years, he later began representing individuals and families upon joining a New York-based firm specializing in plaintiffs’ aviation litigation. He worked in the firm’s New York and Los Angeles offices and was promoted to partner during his time there. During the course of his career, Mr. Angelley has been involved in numerous commercial, military and general aviation cases, including:
- American Connection Flight 5966 crash near Kirksville, Missouri
- Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash near Anacapa Island, California
- Swissair Flight 111 crash near Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Raytheon Patriot Missile shoot down of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 aircraft in Iraq
- The crash of a Lear 35 aircraft near Mina, South Dakata, which killed professional golfer Payne Stewart
- The crash of an Army UH-60 helicopter near Fort Hood, Texas
- The crash of a Florida National Guard C-23B transport plane near Unadilla, Georgia
In addition, he has litigated many other personal injury and wrongful death cases against Cessna, Piper, Mooney, Cirrus, Raytheon, Bell Helicopter, American Eurocopter, Lycoming Engines, Teledyne Continental Motors, Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell International, and Mitsubishi Aircraft, to name a few, involving defective design, manufacture, warning, overhaul and maintenance.
In addition to his aviation expertise, Mr. Angelley has substantial experience handling business claims and contract disputes for small and medium sized companies, both inside and outside of the aviation market. His non-aviation litigation experience includes breach of executive level employment agreements, breach of sales and service contracts, breach of manufacturing agreements, and disputes involving breaches of fiduciary duties by corporate officers and directors.
Mr. Angelley has also been on the forefront in defending against efforts by aircraft manufacturers and their insurers to use a legal theory known as preemption to immunize themselves from lawsuits. These manufacturers and insurers argue that the Federal Aviation Regulations replace traditional negligence and products liability standards, thereby precluding state law-based suits against them. Mr. Angelley has been integral in obtaining several key rulings rejecting this argument. See, e.g., Monroe v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 417 F.Supp.2d 824 (E.D.Tex. 2006) (involving preemption argument in the context of a claims arising out of a crash caused by a bird strike).
Mr. Angelley has published numerous articles and is a frequent speaker at legal education forums and bar association meetings. Some of his articles and speeches are:
- Author, Harsh Realities of the State Secrets Privilege, Trial, American Association for Justice, September 2010.
- Author, Amateur-Built Aircraft Litigation Risky for Plaintiffs Attorneys, Texas Lawyer, August 16, 2010, Vol. 26, No. 20.
- Author, Left Behind: How Consumers Became the Biggest Losers of the Chrysler and GM Bankruptcies, Advocate, Journal of Consumer Attorneys Associations for Southern California, September 2009 (with Orla Brady).
- Author, The Need for Mandatory Aviation Insurance, AAJ Section Newsletter, Vol. 15, No. 2, Winter 2008 (with Justin T. Green).
- Author, Plaintiff Thwarts Cessna’s Preemption Arguments in Monroe v. Cessna, AAJ Aviation Section Newsletter, Vol. 14, No. 2, Winter 2007.
- Speaker, A Discussion of Monroe v. Cessna Aircraft Company, New York City Bar Association, June 2006.
- Speaker, Update on the September 11, 2001 Victim Compensation Fund and Related Litigation, Lubbock Bar Association, May 2004.
- Speaker/Author, Field Preemption and the Federal Aviation Regulations, SMU Airlaw Symposium, February 2003.
- Author, The September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, Texas Bar Journal, January 7, 2002.
- Speaker, Aviation Product Liability Insurance, Texas Department of Transportation Aviation Conference, June 2001.
Mr. Angelley graduated with honors from Texas Tech University in 1988, and earned his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997. While in law school, he participated in various mock trial and moot court competitions and founded the Texas Aviation Law Association.
Mr. Angelley is a member of the State Bars of Texas, New York and California. He is also a member of the American Association for Justice, American Bar Association, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Consumer Attorneys of California, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the New York City Bar Association. Mr. Angelley previously served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Aviation Section for the New York City Bar Association and presently serves as librarian for the Aviation Section of the American Association for Justice.