"A civil lawsuit has been filed on September 30, 2009 in Houston Court against Air France, Airbus, Honeywell International Inc, Rockwell Collins Inc. and Thalès by the administrators of the estate of two passengers who died in the accident of flight AF 447 from Rio to Paris.
This action seeks damages for the two deaths arising out of the June 1, 2009, aircraft accident."
Anyone reading this site must get the impression that only people in aviation are doing an honest, professional job, and that any other job is, without exception, performed by unethical, incompetent gutter-dwellers.
Thank God. I thought no-one would ever understand.
Every other job is indeed, without exception, performed by unethical, incompetent gutter-dwellers. Especially Traffic Wardens. And Council staff. And Politicians. And the CAA.
One of the passengers is Paul Stafford, the academic director of international development at Kingston University in south-west London.
He said: "I remember smashing into the ground and the undercarriage being forced through the wing by the impact. I was convinced that I was going to die. "I think about the crash every day and wish it had never happened to me."
Yes, I'm sure you are not the only one who wished that. And each time you drive the five miles from your home, you are lucky to be alive (many prangs happen within five miles of your home as you are too familiar with the roads and lose 'SA'). I am sympathetic but irritated.
Notice these are English lawyers suing Boeing in an Illinois court
Probably because, by law and the way Boeing was incorporated, that is where they have chosen to fight legal challenges. It's nothing sinister, all companies are able to chose the state they will be "suable" in. Otherwise people would pull their legal team all over the USA and the world in the case of an international company.
Fatuous lawsuits are frowned on by ethical people, but they can be used as a tool, especially in the US.
Remember Freddy Laker? 'I'm going to sue everything that moves.' That was in the US, cos he would have found it difficult in the Uk.
The problem for the defendants was, that he could cause havoc . . . very expensive havoc. I would suggest that some people may 'fold', simply to avoid such chaos.
The second oldest, though the most loathed profession is at it again!
Surely the millions they will be seeking would be best invested in determining exactly the cause of the accident. Oh, but then the insurance money go-round would miss out on their share.
Has BA (or Boeing) - or any of the others mentioned - offered 'compensation' for the inconvenience that the passengers experienced? It would seem reasonable - after all, train companies routinely give payouts for late arrival.
I recall that when I was travelling regularly across the North Sea by ferry the shipping company stated clearly in their terms that, effectively, nothing was covered in the event of loss or damage. I don't know whether they are still getting away with such disclaimers.
The left undercarriage did come up through the trailing edge of the wing and flap assemblies. The right undercarriage broke off, penetrated the fuselage and caused a compound fracture to a passenger's leg.
I am sure all the self-righteous individuals posting here would, of course, decline the chance to win large sums of compensation. Most of us would surely find our high moral stance weakening if we had been a passenger on that flight. Whether it should be POSSIBLE to sue for large amounts of compensation is an entirely different matter.
Where rules allow something people will take advantage of those rules. I like to think I would NOT sue but the temptation would be great and I cannot be certain I would walk away from it.
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