Some Flight 1549 passengers have reportedly "lawyered-up." What legal claims do they have?
Putting aside the question of whether pursuing the claims is the right thing to do — some say they should simply count their blessings — do the passengers have any claims to begin with?
Well, it depends on the law that applies. For
Two years ago, a Garuda Airlines 737 pilot botched a landing at Indonesia’s Yogyakarta airport. The plane crashed and 21 people were killed. Many more were injured.
Indonesia’s legal system focuses more on punishing the careless than on compensating the victims. So, yesterday, the pilot was found "guilty of negligence" and sentenced to two years in prison.
While criminalizing
Well, that seems to be what the National Transportation Safety Board said today when it commented on the preliminary accident statistics for 2008.
The NTSB’s comment:
The 2008 accident statistics reveal a mixed picture. . . We are particularly concerned with the spike in fatalities in on-demand air charter operations. There’s a lot of room
Some people think that the National Transportation Safety Board is the final authority over an aviation accident — that the NTSB acts as the accident "police." They think that, in the end, the NTSB will catch the one responsible for the accident and make that person answer for what happened. But that’s just not the case.
It’s true that
The Danko Meredith Firm represents victims of aviation accidents throughout the United States and abroad. Its lawyers have handled cases involving just about every type of flying machine, from simple ultralights to complex helicopters, and from small commuter airliners to the supersonic transport.
Mike Danko is an aviation safety advocate and Danko Meredith’s founding partner. He has tried cases on behalf of injured clients as far east as Massachusetts and as far west as Hawaii. His aviation trial results include a $15 million verdict for his client in Burdett v. Teledyne Continental Motors , a $10 million verdict
Most victims of a helicopter or airplane accident can’t afford to pay aviation attorneys an hourly rate to investigate the cause of the crash or to take an aviation lawsuit to trial. For these people, the doors of the courthouse would be essentially closed were it not for the contingency fee agreement. The contingency fee
Kristine Meredith is a trial lawyer and partner at the Danko Meredith Law Firm. She has represented victims of aviation accidents or their families in both state and federal courts. She has been named a Northern California “Super Lawyer” by vote of her peers and has extensive experience in federal multi-district litigation.
In addition
An airline’s liability for a passenger’s injury or death is most often determined by state law. But if the passenger’s trip includes a stop in a foreign country, then the airline’s liability is controlled entirely by international treaties. The treaties are known as the Warsaw Convention and the Montreal Convention.
The treaties also govern a