Lawyer Steve Barnes of the famous personal-injury firm Cellino & Barnes was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting crashed in Genesee County, NY, according to his former partner and authorities.
Barnes’ niece, Elizabeth Barnes, the plane’s only passenger, also was killed, said Ross Cellino, Jr., in a statement.
“It is with great sadness that I learned of the tragic passing of Steve Barnes in a plane crash,” said Cellino, who had been locked in a bitter legal battle with his former law partner over the pair’s business split — including about who would get the firm’s annoyingly catchy commercial jingle.
“Equally heartbreaking is the passing of Elizabeth Barnes, sister of Brian Barnes and daughter of Rich Barnes, Steve’s brother and an attorney at our firm,” Cellino wrote.
Barnes was at the controls of the single-engine propellor-powered aircraft when it went down in a wooded area at 11:45 a.m., two sources told the Buffalo News.
Barnes had his pilot’s license and owned the Socata TBM 700, sources said.
The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office only confirmed that two people were aboard the aircraft and that both had died. Authorities did not identify them.
The aircraft had left Manchester, NH, en route Buffalo when it crashed.
The NTSB is investigating the accident.
The fatal crash comes just three months after Barnes and Cellino finally agreed to the terms of splitting their firm after a vicious legal battle.
The duo’s Buffalo-based personal-injury firm is known statewide for its ubiquitous ad featuring its toll-free phone number, (800) 888-8888 — and both men had duked it out for several years over who would get it, among other things.
According to the terms of their confidential agreement, ads featuring the number were to go off the airwaves Oct. 10 and after that, any calls coming into it would be directed one week to Cellino’s new firm and the next week to Barnes’. That set-up was to have lasted 18 months.
“Steve and I worked together for many years at our firm,” Cellino said in his statement.
“He was always a fearless advocate for his clients. His passing is a significant loss for the legal community,” he said.
“Steve’s greatest accomplishment was his three children Josiah, Rachel, and Julia. Steve is survived by his longtime partner, Ellen Sturm, also an attorney at our firm.”
With Post wires