David E. Rapoport

David Rapoport is a 55 year old husband, father and trial lawyer. His job is to obtain justice for people who have been harmed using the truth, the law and their right to trial by jury. A full time trial attorney since 1981, David limits his practice to prosecuting personal injury and wrongful death cases. He enjoys representing people and never represents insurance companies or other businesses. He helps wrongfully injured people and the loved ones of people who were wrongfully killed in many ways including winning jury verdicts and settlements from those who caused harm by breaking the rules. David represents people with cases involving commercial and general aviation negligence, semi-truck and motor vehicle negligence, medical malpractice, product liability, recreational and commercial boating accidents, premises liability, work injuries and construction accidents.

David is certified* as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the oldest and largest not for profit American Bar Association accredited trial attorney certification board in the United States. In his spare time David serves as this Board's President Elect. David is also an Associate Member of the invitation only American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and is a Fellow of the ABOTA Foundation. ABOTA is dedicated to preservation of the right to trial by jury in civil cases. The requirements for election are rigorous and members consist of the most experienced personal injury trial lawyers in America. He is a sustaining member of the American Association for Justice and the firm is a part of the elite Leaders Forum for the AAJ. He is also a member of the state trial lawyer associations in Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky.

David's qualifications include recognition as a top personal injury and wrongful death lawyer by: 1) Martindale-Hubbell, which rated him "AV Preeminent®", the highest rating available for a lawyer's legal ability and professional ethics"; 2) Thomson-Reuters, which has selected David for inclusion in its annual Super Lawyer publication every year the program has been in existence; 3) Avvo, one of the world's largest online lawyer directories, which has rated David a "10-Superb", their highest possible rating; and 4) The Law Bulletin's Leading Lawyers Network, where David has been a "Leading Lawyer" since the inception of the Leading Lawyer Network.

In a rare type of opinion published on June 9, 2011, United States Senior District Court Judge Karl S. Forester of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, who presided over a case David tried which resulted in a $7.1 million record setting jury verdict in favor of his client, described David's work:

"Throughout the three years that Mr. Rapoport represented [this client], this Court observed his thorough preparation, his strong advocacy, and his noteworthy trial skills. Based on this Court's observations, Rapoport was overwhelmingly responsible for the $7.1 million Plaintiffs' verdict. The $5 million loss of consortium verdict for the teenage children was record setting. . . . The Court had the opportunity to observe Mr. Rapoport personally on a number of occasions, including the damages trial. His skills in selecting and presenting the evidence and his handling of the unique, all-male jury were among the best this Court has seen in over twenty years on the bench."

David is a quoted authority on personal injury and wrongful death law. He has been interviewed by many television, radio and newspaper reporters over the years. For example, after the Value Jet crash in Florida's Everglades the television program 60 Minutes featured an interview with David for a segment entitled "Open and Shut Case?" on some of the unexpected issues airplane crash victims or their families may encounter in the aftermath of an aviation negligence disaster. And in The Lost Art: An Advocate's Guide to Effective Closing Arguments, United States District Court Judge Joseph Anderson, who presided over the USAir flight 1016 liability trial, published an excerpt of David's closing argument to the jury in that case as an example of attacking an opponent's case "in the right way".

Recently, David served as lead counsel in a semi-tractor trailer truck crash personal injury and wrongful death case that settled for $13 million, and as the lead trial attorney in three multi-million dollar jury trials: the one resulting in the $7.1 million wrongful death and loss of parental consortium verdict mentioned by Judge Forester; another resulting in a record setting $6.9 million settlement while the jury was deliberating in a semi-truck personal injury and wrongful death accident case tried in Madison, Wisconsin, and the third garnering a $1.55 million record setting jury verdict against a trucking company in a personal injury case tried in Friendship, Wisconsin. David also recently managed Rapoport Law Offices trial teams that obtained a $9.858 million record setting jury verdict in a medical malpractice case tried in Chicago; a $3.09 million dollar record setting jury verdict in a work injury case involving mild traumatic brain injury in Decatur, Illinois; a $2.25 million bench verdict in a collision case tried in Peoria, Illinois and a $2.03 million jury verdict in a product liability case tried in Chicago.

Few attorneys have experience as extensive as David's in successfully representing clients in aviation negligence and airplane crash cases in venues across the country. He was selected to act as the lead trial attorney in consolidated federal cases arising out of the crash of United Airlines flight 232, a DC-10 that crashed at Sioux City, Iowa on July 19, 1989 (where he represented crew members in their product liability cases) and USAir flight 1016, a DC-9 that crashed at Charlotte, North Carolina on July 2, 1994 (where he represented passengers in claims against the airline and air traffic controllers). The Sioux City case settled on the day of trial under favorable terms for the plaintiffs, while the Charlotte case was tried for six weeks and resulted in a jury verdict finding USAir negligently caused the crash even though the airline vigorously argued it was not negligent.

David Rapoport has been appointed by federal judges to serve on plaintiffs' steering committees in several major air disaster cases including the Swissair Nova Scotia crash, the EgyptAir crash near Rhode Island, the American Airlines Little Rock crash, the American Eagle Morrisville crash and the USAir Charlotte crash. In addition, early in his career he was lead trial lawyer in the first damages case tried arising out of the crash of USAir flight 405 at New York's LaGuardia Airport. This case, which was tried in Cleveland, concluded with an $8.1 million jury verdict. $7.35 million of this verdict was for a single wrongful death and established an Ohio record high for that category of case. David's aviation credentials also include successfully representing flight crew member interests. For example, he successfully represented the estate of the co-pilot of the American Airlines jumbo jet that crashed in Queens in 2001 in a product liability lawsuit against the air frame manufacturer notwithstanding the contention the co-pilot, who was flying the plane at the time of the crash, used overly aggressive rudder inputs triggering the disaster. Mr. Rapoport was the lead plaintiffs' trial attorney in both of the last two contested commercial air disaster liability trials against airlines in the United States, and in both cases the jury ruled, over the airline's objection, that the airline was at fault.

* Board certification is not required to practice law in Illinois, and the Illinois Supreme Court does not recognize specialties in the practice of law.