Arturo J. González

Arturo J. González graduated from South Texas College of Law in 1987 and immediately began mentoring under the late John Howie at the Windle Turley Law Firm in Dallas, with emphasis on aviation accident cases, including the two Delta crashes at DFW, the Northwest crash at Detroit, the American DC-10 failed takeoff in San Juan, the PSA mid air collision over San Diego, the Air Canada in flight fire killing 23 persons, in addition to domestic and international private aviation accidents resulting in death and severe injury to crew, passengers, and people on the ground.

Mr. González subsequently joined Rick Laminack at O’Quinn Laminack & Pirtle, where he expanded into pharmaceutical and medical devices litigation. During his ten-year tenure, he also participated in Norplant, Breast Implant, and Phen Fen litigation, in addition to taking on other defective products cases primarily involving tire defects, crashworthiness, roof crush, and 18-wheeler – big rig accidents.

After leaving the O’Quinn law firm, Mr. González briefly joined attorney Rob Ammons to assist in representing injured claimants in the BP Texas City refinery explosion litigation. The court appointed Mr. González as liaison plaintiffs’ counsel to coordinate discovery efforts among the numerous plaintiffs involved. In May 2006, he joined Brent Coon & Associates, where he continued to play a key role in managing the complex litigation and settlement processes. During this period, Brent Coon & Associates secured a significant settlement for Eva Rowe, a young woman who lost both her parents in the March 23, 2005, explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery. As part of the settlement, BP agreed to donate over $32 million to various institutions, including $12.5 million each to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Texas A&M University, to support medical burn research and process safety management in refinery operations.

Since 2010, Mr. González once again shifted his focus on maintaining a heavy aviation docket involving international air disasters, including GOL Air (Brazil), TACA (Honduras), Evergreen Helinka (Peru), Spanair (Madrid), Turkish Air (Amsterdam), in which a $5,545,000.00, settlement was attained on behalf his clients, the family members of a Boeing engineer and US Naval Academy graduate who was killed in the crash.

In January of 2011, Arturo J. González, established his own practice, concentrating on catastrophic events resulting in death or severe injury.

In March 2011, through a joint venture with Bob Hilliard, Hillard Muñoz & Gonzáles of Corpus Christi, Texas, the firms reached a $7,000,000.00 settlement on behalf of their client Jose Herrera, who was burned over 80% of his body at the CITGO Refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, when a defective nipple broke off an injection point spewing vast amounts of hot oil from a heat exchanger.

With Mr. González’ fluency of Spanish and French, and in conjunction with his business contacts in Latin America and Europe, Arturo J. Gonzalez P.C., implemented plans to expand its practice area into business and commercial litigation matters. Mr. Gonzalez anticipated that with the aviation industry’s targeting Houston as a growing international hub, new world markets became easily accessible allowing Arturo J. Gonzalez P.C., the ability to provide exclusive legal expertise to its business clients in international business and trade relations involving United States and international legal issues.

Subsequently, Mr. González served as lead U.S. counsel in the case of Ana Maria Sanchez Diez v. The Boeing Company, stemming from the August 20, 2008, crash of Spanair Flight JK5022 in Madrid, which killed 154 people and injured 18. Initially filed in U.S. courts, the case was transferred to Spain on forum non conveniens grounds. Litigation continued in Las Palmas and Madrid, with claims against Spanair settled through its insurer, MAPFRE. A trial against Boeing was scheduled for January 17, 2024, but was postponed as parties resumed settlement discussions. After 16 years of litigation and two appeals to the Spanish Supreme Court, both lost by Boeing, the case was settled in July 2024.

Other litigation of note were the Boeing 737 Max cases resulting on over 346 deaths from the crashes of two separate 737 Max aircraft occurred within a span of less than five months between October 29, 2018 (Lion Air 610 – Jakarta, Indonesia), and March 11, 2019 (Ethiopian Flight 302). The cases against Boeing were resolved for a confidential eight figure amount in April 2022.

In October 2023, Mr. Gonzalez and Ricardo A. Garcia, prominent McAllen Attorney, settled a case on behalf of Izela Garcia Fassio and her two minor children, against Cessna, Textron and Lycoming for a confidential high seven figure amount wherein a crankshaft failed in mid-flight, killing all occupants of the Cessna 206, including Ms. Garcia Fassio’s husband.

Mr. González is licensed to practice in Texas and New York. In addition, Mr. Gonzalez is licensed in all Federal District Courts of Texas, the United States District Court – Northern District of Illinois – Chicago Division, the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Claims, and the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Gonzalez was also pro hoc vice in the Courts of First Instance in Las Palmas, Gran Canarias, and Madrid, Spain.