 |
Dorothea M. Capone |
Thea Capone, a member of the firm, has been part of Baumeister & Samuels since its inception and has worked with Mitch Baumeister for more than 40 years. She has been involved in every major case handled by the firm, including most recently Continental Connection Flight 3407, Comair Flight 5191, the World Trade Center September 11th Litigation, and the Pan Am Flight 103 Libya terrorist litigation. Thea represented the families of dozens of individuals who lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in hearings before the Special Master for the federal Victims Compensation Fund, a legislative alternative to litigation. She was appointed and serves on the Plaintiffs Executive Committee that continues its pursuit of justice on behalf of all of the 9/11 victims and their families in litigation pending in the Southern District of New York against the nations of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan and dozens of other entities and individuals who supported and facilitated the terror attacks. Thea has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in payments for the immediate family members of the 9/11 victims from the federal U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund since it was initially created in 2015.
Thea recently served as the Chair of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section and continues to serve on its governing Council in the role of Immediate Past-Chair. Prior to her service as Section Chair, she served for several years as the TIPS Secretary and Diversity Officer and as its Vice Chair and Chair-Elect roles, and had a three-year term as a Council member. Thea has been a faculty member for the National Trial Academy sponsored by TIPS and the American Board of Trial Advocates. She remains an active member of several of TIPS’ standing and general committees having served a term as Chair of the TIPS Aviation and Space Law Committee, and she has been part of its annual conference planning committee for many years.
In addition to her service to the American Bar Association, Thea is also a member of the International Aviation Women’s Association, the American Association for Justice, and numerous other national and local bar associations. She spent many years as a member of the Southern Methodist University’s Air Law Symposium’s Board of Advisors which hosts one of the premier aviation conferences bringing together the world’s foremost practitioners and experts. Thea also serves as a board member for the Landfall Foundation which awards grants and scholarships to local charitable organizations.
Thea earned her Juris Doctorate degree from St. John’s University School of Law in 1998 and was the recipient of the New York State Bar Association Distinguished Writing Award, “The Unique Causation Burdens Facing the Toxic Tort Plaintiff - An Argument for Application of the Substantial Factor Test,” New York Environmental Lawyer, Vol. 17, No. 1, Winter 1997.
Lectures/Presentations
Thea Capone is frequently called upon to lecture in the area of aviation litigation and other complex litigation. The following is a list of recent seminars and conferences at which Thea has participated.
• Speaker, Panel on “Communicating with Millennial Jurors,” ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, Spring Section Conference, Atlanta, GA, May 2016;
• Moderator, Panel on “Changes in Aviation Litigation in the Past 50 Years,” Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law 50th Annual Air Law Symposium, Dallas, TX, March 2016;
• Speaker, “Who’s Flying the Aircraft - the Pilot, ATC or a Cyberterrorist?” Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Aviation Law and Insurance Symposium, Orlando, FL, January 2016;
• Faculty Member, ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section and the American Board of Trial Advocates 2015 National Trial Academy, Reno, Nevada, March 2015;
• Speaker, “Accidents Abroad: New Realities in International Aviation,” Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Aviation Law and Insurance Symposium, Orlando, Florida, January 2015;
• Speaker, “Messaging, Posting, Tweeting, Blogging and Streaming: How the Explosive Use of Social Media May Affect Litigation,” Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Aviation Law and Insurance Symposium, Orlando, Florida, January 2014;
• Moot Appellate Argument: Carrier Liability for Parental-Child Abduction, McGill Conference on International Aviation Liability and Insurance, Institute of Air and Space law, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, October 2013;
• Speaker, Panel on “Why Retaining Women Attorneys is Good Business,” ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, Aviation & Space Law Committee, Washington, D.C., October 2011;
• Chair, ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, Aviation & Space Law Committee, Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., October 2008;
• Moderator, ATC Litigation Panel, ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, Aviation and Space Law Committee, Washington, D.C., October 2007;
• Judge, ABA Student Division Region 2 Negotiation Competition, St. John’s University School of Law, Jamaica, NY, November 2006;
• Moderator, Southern Methodist University Air Law Symposium, Dallas, TX, February 2006;
• Moderator, Panel on “Recent Developments in Aviation Law,” ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, Aviation and Space Law Committee, Washington, D.C., November 2005;
• Family Assistance Foundation, Second Annual Symposium, Atlanta, GA, March 2003.
Publications/Seminars
Thea Capone authored or co-authored the following:
• “A Look at Punitive Damages From the Plaintiffs Perspective,” Litigating the Aviation Case: From Pre-Trial to Closing Argument, Third Edition, Ed. A. J. Harakas, ABA Publishing, 2008;
• “Admissibility Standards As Politics - The Imperial Gate Closers Arrive,” co-authored with Mitch Baumeister, 4 Seton Hall Law Review 33, 2003;
• "Criminalizing Aviation Misconduct: ValuJet and Beyond – The Trend and Issues Faced by the Aviation Community," co-authored with Mitch Baumeister, Journal of Air Law and Commerce, Southern Methodist University Air Law Symposium, February 2001;
• "The Application of Current U.S. Product Liability Law to Commercial Aviation Disasters - In The End Does It Really Matter?" co-authored with Mitch Baumeister, and presented at the Aviation Product Liability Conference sponsored by Barlow, Lyde & Gilbert, London, England, May 2000;
• “DOHSA – The Impact the Second Circuit Court of Appeals Decision and the Recent Amendment Will Have on the TWA Flight 800 Litigation” published in the Spring/Summer 2000 newsletter of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America;
• “Issues Confronting Plaintiffs' Lawyers Handling Product Liability Actions Arising Out of Aviation Mass Disaster Actions Now and Into the Next Century” co-authored with Mitch Baumeister, and delivered at the Aviation Law/Insurance Symposium conducted by Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida in January 1999; and
• “The Unique Causation Burdens Facing the Toxic Tort Plaintiff - An Argument for Application of the Substantial Factor Test,” New York Environmental Lawyer, Vol. 17, No. 1, Winter 1997, New York State Bar Association. Ms. Capone won a distinguished writing award for this piece.
|
