Why this Blog?

I am an advocate for justice and a trial lawyer by trade. The primary reason I am an advocate for justice is to promote the public safety in our communities (both yours and mine). The underlying purpose for this blog is to help achieve that objective with the hope of making our communities a safer and better place to live for our children and grandchildren. As a trial lawyer, I have assisted thousands of victims of personal injury and wrongful death in a number of product liability, negligence and workers’ compensation cases many of which have been considered "high profile." By way of introduction, I am the principal shareholder in Morton Law Offices, Chartered located at 1005 North Eighth Street in the City of Boise, Idaho. I am formerly affilitated as "Of Counsel" to a law firm in Washington, DC which had at that time a number of satellite offices located in New York City, New York; San Antonio and Dallas/Ft. Worth Texas; Orange County, California and Southern Florida with particular emphasis in air crash litigation and products liability. Early in my legal career I was also associated as a trial attorney with a leading insurance defense firm located in Boise, Idaho. I was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois. I graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science with special emphasis in political polling and political theory. I also attended and graduated from the University of Idaho Law School where I was a Staff Editor and Member of the Idaho Law Review and a participant in the Legal Aid Clinic.

I am admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and all State and Federal Courts in the State of Idaho. I have also been admitted pro hac vice in the States of Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Texas and Washington. My litigation experience includes but is not limited to representing clients in a number of air crash disasters and accidents involving heavy equipment, cranes, tires and wheels, large commercial trucks (18 wheelers), bicycles, motorcycles, vans, SUV’s and automobiles.

I am a sustaining member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ); and a member of the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA); the Lawyers-Pilots Bar Association; the San Antonio Trial Lawyers Association (SATLA); the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and I am a Past Chairman of the Litigation Section of the Idaho State Bar Association. I am also a lecturer and author of various publications regarding trial practice, trial procedure and jury bias.

My litigation experience includes, but is not limited to representing victims of the air crash disaster of Continental Flight 1713 (DC 9) at Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado of November 15, 1987 (MDL 751); the air crash disaster of United Airlines Flight 232 (DC 10) at Sioux City, IA of July 19, 1989 (MDL 817); the air crash disaster of Northwest Airliner (DC 9) at Wayne International Airport, Detroit, MI of December 3, 1990 (MDL 891); the air crash disaster of Lan Chile Charter Flight at Puerto Williams, Chile on February 20, 1991); the air crash disaster of Valujet Flight 592 at the Everglades, Florida of May 11, 1996; litigation versus Foodmaker, Inc. doing business as "Jack N Box" for personal injuries allegedly arising from exposure to E coli caused by eating undercooked hamburger; litigation against Volkswagen, A.G., et al. for the wrongful death and decapitation of a 1 yr old allegedly arising from the deployment of a passenger side air bag; litigation versus Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., General Motors Corp. and Kelsey Hayes for personal injuries and product liability arising from the alleged mismatch of a 16" tire onto a 16.5" wheel; litigation versus AT&T Technologies, Inc., et al. for personal injuries allegedly arising from the exposure to low levels of electromagnetic radiation; and hundreds of other accidents including but not limited to automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, slip and falls and dog bites, respectively. I am active as both a trial and political consultant where as such I have conducted focus groups (both concept and structure) throughout the United States.

When I am not practicing law and pursuing justice on behalf of my clients, my passion lies in serving the community in various capacities including researching and publishing information regarding the recall of unsafe products in the market; and coaching/instructing children in the rudiments of baseball and football. I enjoy the outdoors and can be found rafting white water whenever the opportunity permits. I am also an avid sports fan who has obtained the patience of Job having been a life long fan of the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears.

The purpose of this blog is to heighten the awareness concerning issues of public safety in the hope of reducing the risk of harm to you and others. If just one person is saved from injury and death; the purpose of this blog would be fulfilled.

I know it may seem odd for a trial lawyer to be publishing a blog that has an objective of reducing injury or death since many lawyers earn their income by assisting others in obtaining compensation for injury, death and other damages. However, I am a father of five children and a grandfather of five grandchildren (with another one in the oven!). I hope when I leave this world when my time is up and I'm called "home" that I would have done something to help prevent someone from being harmed rather than just make a living as a result of people's suffering.

One of my criteria I use in determining whether to accept a case is whether the public good will benefit from my involvement in the case; will my work somehow make our community a better and safer place to live for our children and grandchildren. The purpose of this blog is to heighten public awareness regarding issues that affect safety (particularly that of the children) and other situations that pose an unreasonable risk of harm to others. By doing so, I thing that if we can save one person from injury or death, then our time together would have been well spent.

So what does "Obitur Dictum" mean? "Obitur Dictim," the title of this blog is a latin phrase most commonly associated with a comment rendered by a justice or judge in the body of a written decision that is considered an opinion that is not controlling to the issue at hand but is offered for purposes of rendering enlightenment to the reader as to the Court's perspective regarding the matter addressed.

This blog is dedicated to promoting the public awareness of matters concerning safety in the hopes of helping others avoid injury and death. I believe that if only one person is saved from injury or death as a result of the information contained in this blog and the postings to follow, then my time (as well as yours) will have been well spent. I have sat in the living rooms and kitchens of so many clients who have lost a loved one due to the careless acts of others. It is my hope that this blog will minimize that risk of loss. If not, I am ready, willing and able to assist you and your clients (if you are a lawyer), in obtaining redress for those injuries and damages caused by the negligence of others and/or defective products in the hope that the responsible party and others are induced to change their conduct and/or the products they interject into the public commerce to avoid injury or death to others. So, in summary the purpose of this blog is to promote public safety by increasing the public's awareness of goods and services that are in the public domain that may cause harm to you and/or others.

I will be posting information in the future on this blog alerting you to product recalls; safety alerts and information designed to promote a safer way of accomplishing a task that reduces the risk of injury or death. To these objectives, I create this blog for you and I to share ideas that will help our children and grandchildren from exposure to the unreasonable risk of injury or death as well as promoting the public safety.

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CONTACT INFORMATION: If you or a family member have been injured or damaged due to the fault or responsibility of someone else, an industrial accident or by a dangerous or defective product, drug or toxic substance, contact Alan Morton for a no obligation, free consultation.

For additional information contact:

Alan L. Morton
MORTON LAW OFFICES, CHARTERED
1005 North Eighth Street
Post Office Box 420
Boise, ID 83701-0420
Telephone: 208.344.5555
Toll Free: 866.946.1669 [866.WIN.1.NOW]
Facsimile: 208.342.2509
Email: amorton@mortonlawyers.com
Website: www.mortonlawyers.com