Norfolk Railroad Accident Injury Lawyer John Cooper Chairs FELA Group for the American Association for Justice

In 2011 Norfolk and Virginia Beach railroad accident injury attorney John Cooper was elected to chair the FELA Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice, the largest plaintiffs’ attorney organization in the United States.

FELA is the Federal Employers Liability Act, a federal law that was enacted in 1908 to protect and compensate railroad workers who are injured on the job, as long as the worker can prove that the railroad was at least partly legally negligent in causing the injury.

John has been involved in fighting many cases on behalf of injured railroad workers.

The American Association for Justice grew out of a meeting on August 16, 1946, of a group of nine plaintiffs’ attorneys who were involved in workers’ compensation litigation.

When they got together for a meeting in a hotel room at the Heathman Hotel in Portland, Oregon, their avowed aim was the creation of a plan to form a new organization to “combat new threats facing trial lawyers across the country,” the AAJ’s website states.

The attorneys set up the National Association of Claimants’ Compensation Attorneys (NACCA). The mission of the group was to secure powerful representation for victims of industrial accidents, but the group’s remit quickly widened to include admiralty, railroad, and personal injury lawyers. Soon the group had grown to include attorneys engaged in almost all of the facets of trial advocacy.

Before 1973 the organization had changed its name three times. It finally emerged as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA). In 1977, ATLA’s headquarters moved from Boston to Washington, DC.

The ATLA name lasted for three decades. But in 2006, ATLA members voted to adopt a new name: the American Association for Justice (AAJ).

AAJ describes itself on its website as a “broad-based, international coalition of attorneys, law professors, paralegals, and law students.”

“As the world’s largest trial bar, AAJ promotes justice and fairness for injured persons, safeguards victims’ rights—particularly the right to trial by jury—and strengthens the civil justice system through education and disclosure of information critical to public health and safety. With members worldwide, and a network of U.S. and Canadian affiliates involved in diverse areas of trial advocacy, AAJ provides lawyers with the information and professional assistance needed to serve clients successfully and protect the democratic values inherent in the civil justice system,” the AAJ states.

The Norfolk and Virginia Beach based personal injury law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles automobile, truck, and motorcycle injuries. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling auto injury accident claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010. Cooper Hurley represents people hurt in accidents in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and always put the best interests of our clients first. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us at (757) 455 -0077 or contact us through this website.