-
UK
GROUP LITIGATION
(Collins Solicitors, Watford) Royal Courts of
Justice December 2002 - Unsuccessful(56 Claimants
v 27 Airlines)
-
July
2003 Court of Appeal Unsuccessful (24 Claimants v
16 Airlines)
-
House of
Lords Appeal Insurers will not Fund
Estimated Cost £50,000 (Cost per individual will
depend upon number of claimants) Likely to “proceed
to the House of
Lords as a test case for one, possibly two
people.” Ref:
Collins 18/3/04
-
December
2003 Australia Victoria State Supreme Court In
Favour of Claimant/s
-
July 2003
– US District Court San Francisco: “Accident”
ruling favoured claimants (non DVT issue)
-
February
2004 - US Supreme Court very critical of the
English Court of Appeal decision. “As a result
of this it appears likely that
the House of Lords will wish to review matters
entirely.” Ref:
Collins 12/3/04
NOTE: US Supreme
Court said the UK Court of Appeal decision was
wrong.
-
April 2004
– British Airways announces legal costs will be
waived if lawsuit to House of Lords is lost by
claimants – a move described by lawyers as
unprecedented and that could be interpreted as
damage limitation.
-
April 2004
–Law Lords consider leave to Appeal. Verdict
awaited.
-
Warsaw
Convention –1929
Article 17 “The carrier is liable for
damages sustained or any other bodily injury*
suffered by a passenger, if the accident* which caused the damage so sustained took
place on board the aircraft or in the course of
any of the operations of embarking or
disembarking”
-
Montreal Convention
Replaces the Warsaw Convention of 1929. It
offers no change to the “accident” criteria.
Airlines will continue to have no “Duty of Care”
for their passengers, no liability for injuries to
their health. The Convention came into force in
November 2003 but the UK will not be included
until the European Union has ratified the
Convention on behalf of its 15 Member States.
**Note:
John Smith MP is campaigning to get “bodily
injury” changed to personal injury and “accident”
changed to incident.
