John A. Greaves

In addition to being a seasoned airline accident lawyer, John A. Greaves is a former airline captain and an experienced airline transport pilot. Since joining Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman's aviation litigation team in the early 1990s, John has represented hundreds of airline accident victims in more than 35 airline disasters, representing clients in virtually every major U.S. airline disaster in the last 20 years.

He was on the legal team that negotiated one of Baum Hedlund’s most significant aviation litigation achievements when the firm won, as part of the settlement in the January 8, 2003 Air Midwest Flight 5481 crash in Charlotte, NC, the agreement of the airline and maintenance company, in an organized ceremony, to deliver an unprecedented official public apology for the crash to the families.

John has been appointed to the following aviation litigation committees: Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, MDL-2085, In Re: Air Crash near Clarence Center, New York, on February 12, 2009; Plaintiffs' Executive Committee, September 11, 2001 Tort Litigation (airline passenger cases); Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, MDL-1448, American Airlines 587 Crash, Belle Harbor (Queens), New York, 2001; Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, Singapore Airlines Crash, Taipei, Taiwan, 2000; and the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, Atlantic Southeast Airlines Crash, near Carrollton, Georgia, 1995.

The Aviation Section of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) awarded John with “Outstanding Section Member, 2009” for his significant contribution to an AAJ legislation project to seek better compensation for victims of general aviation accidents. John has been chosen by his peers for several years in a row to be listed in Southern California Super Lawyers®. He is a member of the state bars of California and Missouri and a member of the American Association for Justice, Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association and Air Line Pilots Association. He has Martindale Hubbell’s highest AV® Peer Review Rating, is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, and has the highest Avvo.com superb score of 10.

John has been a licensed pilot for more than 40 years, five years of which were as a pilot in scheduled airlines service, and four years of which were in the capacity of captain. As an airline captain, John supervised flight and ground crews, ensured compliance with all FAA operations and maintenance regulations, documents and inspections. John is an airline transport rated pilot and former Captain for Comair. He has flown over 10,000 hours total flight time since 1966 and over 3,000 hours as a Captain in Part 121 and Part 135 scheduled airline operations.