Even though you may never be involved in an aviation crash or mishap, it pays to be informed as to your rights when traveling on a commercial carrier.
Most of us never need to think about the what-ifs in life. Maybe we are purposefully and blissfully ignorant of life's dangers. Others might have had past experiences with the darker and tragic side of life and always toy around with those potentials, before boarding an airplane, just as one example.
It turns out that the airline ticket has a lot of small print associated with it that covers accidents, crashes, and the associated injuries and death. It lends itself to the morbid question of your rights as a passenger if you are seriously injured or do not make it through a crash alive. What if your family are left behind wondering what legal recourse they have? Experts weigh in on answers to questions about the liability factor.
Q: What is an airline required to do for passengers if one of its planes crashes?
A: In 1999, the Montreal Convention was formed to cover international flights by a United Nations agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization. In cases when a carrier is determined to be at fault, they are liable for up to 13,100 special drawing rights (SDR), which is a value determined by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This amount, which is per passenger, is currently roughly equal to about $156,660 US.
There are limits to what a passenger or their families are able to recover. They have been instated in the past 90 years according to international law. Yet, there are no limits to the amount that can be recovered from an airline, except in the case where airlines can demonstrate they took the necessary precautions to prevent an accident. For instance, the families who are left to suffer in the wake of their family members' disappearance on the Malaysian Airlines' flight 370 have the right to sue and would be deserving of damages.
Q: Who is the target of the lawsuit? In other words, who do passengers or their families sue if their family member is injured or killed in a plane accident or crash?
A: Looking at the Montreal Convention, the carrier is the first one to sue. There may be other companies, such as the mechanics, or a manufacturer who made a faulty part or a faulty plane. Sometimes, unfortunately, there are manufacturing defects that could make it into an airplane. If the jet is proven to be negligently designed or manufactured, the manufacturer would be fair game as a part of the lawsuit as well. Notice that the airline is still held on the line and would still be liable. It just means that if the manufacturer is also involved that there are multiple defendants.
Q: Are there steps to take the get compensated?
A: There are limits in different countries. For instance, in the U.S., law firms are prohibited from contacting victims' family members for at least 45 days about the airplane crash. Though, the family members or the victim may contact an aviation lawyer as soon as they feel up to doing so. The sooner the better in many cases, because at least in the United States, cases drag on for years.
Q: Do people use class-action lawsuits or file lawsuits alone after plane crashes?
A: The sheer number of victims, the passengers, would lead it into the land of multi-district litigation, or MDL. There may be a judicial panel that determines it is better to handle the separate cases all as one in one U.S. Federal court.
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