Alliance

John E. “Jack” Sweeney has specialized in the representation of seriously damaged clients for more than 30 years.  After starting his practice with a major Los Angeles insurance defense law firm, Jack then accepted the offer of California’s foremost aviation lawyer representing seriously injured clients and the heirs of those who had lost their lives in accidents of every kind.  In 1980, having already tried many jury cases in State and Federal Courts, Jack formed Sweeney & Associates, and continued his pursuit of just compensation for the victims of the wrongful conduct of others.

Jack was educated at the University of Notre Dame, where he was awarded a B.A. in English and Philosophy, and B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering.  Upon graduation from Notre Dame, he came to Los Angeles to work for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in Burbank as an aerodynamics engineer, while attending law school at night at Loyola University.  Drawing upon his scientific training, his aviation background, and long experience as a multi-engine rated pilot, Jack has litigated many commercial and private aircrash cases all over the nation.  He has tried more than 150 civil cases before juries in State and Federal Courts, in and out of California.  He has lectured on a variety of specialized legal topics to attorneys, physicians groups and insurance executives, in areas including aviation accident causation, Federal Aviation Regulations, electromagnetic radiation injuries, medical malpractice, wrongful business interference, and insurance bad faith. 

After concluding a ground breaking business interference case which resulted in the largest verdict in California, Jack was chosen Trial Lawyer of the Year by Verdictum Juris, a renowned jury verdict research and reporting organization. The much publicized trial and verdict in the case of Harley Davidson West v. AMF Corporation, US District Court, Central District of California, anticipated fundamental changes in this specialized area of law, protecting small and large businesses alike against the predatory practices of their powerful competitors.

Jack’s engineering and scientific bent propelled him into a career-long investigation uncovering the seriously harmful effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation, particularly that area found in the radar portion of the spectrum.  This journey began when an electronics engineer, a dear friend, developed cataracts in both eyes at the age of 33.  Jack’s pursuit of help for his friend culminated in the discovery that the cataract injury was almost certainly caused by the engineer’s exposure to US Air Force radar transmitted in the testing of the engineer’s radar detection device. Sadly, trial of this case in US District Court in Los Angeles proved that the engineer’s malignant brain tumor, discovered a year after development of the cataracts, was also caused by the radar exposure, despite adamant denial by the government of the causal relationship to the USAF radar.  The jury award confirmed the fact of radar causation of the engineer’s tragic injuries, and, within the capability of the law, fully compensated the engineer and his family.  In the years following this singular case, Jack has represented over 200 victims of various types of exposure to electromagnetic radiation, including scores of law enforcement officers suffering a variety of malignancies after extended use of traffic radar guns.  Jack’s case on behalf of a Petaluma police officer afflicted with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after such traffic radar use, tried in US District Court in San Francisco, resulted in design changes in the manufacture of radar guns to prevent such exposure, and ultimately, abandonment of radar in favor of laser energy in law enforcement traffic speed measurement.

Jack has served aspiring lawyers in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties by his dedication to legal education as an adjunct professor of law at the Santa Barbara/Ventura Colleges of Law for more than 25 years, teaching the subjects of Torts (his specialty area of practice), Evidence and Federal Practice. He looks upon his lengthy teaching career as profoundly rewarding, and he treasures the countless enduring relationships developed with his students and fellow faculty members.