Warner V. Hocker

Aviation accidents

• Warner represents the survivor and surviving family members of persons who were aboard a helicopter equipped with a Rolls-Royce M250 engine, which crashed while operating a firefighting mission for the U.S. Forest Service. The plaintiffs have sued the type certificate holder for the engine, as well as two maintenance facilities involved in servicing the engine.
• Warner represented the surviving family of a pilot who was killed when his single-engine turboprop aircraft crashed while on approach to landing. The plaintiffs alleged that the airframe and various avionics onboard were defectively designed and/or manufactured, causing the crash.
• Warner represented the surviving family members of passengers aboard Air France 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while flying from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France.
• Represented the family of an offshore rig worker killed when the helicopter that was transporting him offshore crashed in state territorial waters.

Product liability

• Warner represents a worker who was seriously injured when a torque wrench he was using failed, causing part of the wrench to separate and strike him in the face.
• Warner represented a motorist who sustained serious and permanent injuries, including paraplegia, when the motorist’s truck rolled over during the course of driving along a roadway that was under construction, where the roadway surface had been excavated with a drop-off into dirt and/or gravel.

Admiralty & maritime

• Warner represented an offshore drilling contractor against BP for claims arising out of increased costs of deep-water drilling rig financing following the blowout of BP’s Macondo well and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Represented a worker seriously injured overseas aboard an offshore rig supply vessel, with respect to Jones Act and general maritime law claims.

Federal takings claims
Warner represents over 100 homeowners affected by the Army Corps of Engineers’ release of water from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs onto their property after Hurricane Harvey.  Plaintiffs allege that the United States government’s action resulted in a taking of their property, for which the government owed just compensation.

Catastrophic injury
Warner represents the family of a young girl who was seriously injured when struck by a foul ball at a Houston Astros game.

Commercial litigation
Warner represents the City of Houston with respect to claims made against banks alleged to have participated in the rigging or fixing of the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR), relating to interest rate swap agreements entered into by the City of Houston.

Vehicle accidents
Warner represented a pedestrian who was crossing a crosswalk, when a vehicle turned into the crosswalk, striking the pedestrian and causing serious injury.