Although the Transportation Safety Board has only just commenced its investigation of Air Canada’s recent crash landing in Halifax, one law firm has already announced it is filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of passengers involved.
Nova Scotia-based MacGillivray Injury and Insurance Law confirmed that it has been retained to seek damages for alleged physical and psychological trauma, and will likely direct these charges against Air Canada, Halifax International Airport Authority, and Nav Canada, according to CBC News.
Although it’s too early to guess what went wrong with Flight 624, senior business litigator Neo J. Tuytel believes, “My gut instinct is that somebody will have to be found as culpable, as airplanes don’t just roll off the runaway.”
Tuytel contends that this case, at least in its early stages, seems to parallel two others in Canadian legal history: the sinking of Queen of the North vessel and the emergency landing of Air Transat Flight 236.
In both cases, victims prevailed. BC ferries ended up settling for an undisclosed amount out of court, and Transat A.T. Inc. agreed to pay $7.65 million to 118 passengers.
In the meantime, all eyes are on Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers Ltd., the lead insurer for Air Canada, as reported by Business Insurance. The airline is said to have over a billion dollars in liability, more than enough to cover the $10 million that the plane is worth.
Although this incident follows a string of aviation disasters, including a Germanwings crash that resulted in 150 fatalities, it is not expected to significantly impact North American airline insurance.
“It is unlikely that this event will have a meaningful impact on the airline insurance market. Abundant underwriting capacity means that competition remains high — which, as we saw last year, has kept a lid on premium rate increases,” said Mark Hue Williams, global-based head of transportation at Willis Group Holdings, in a statement. “At this time, losses alone seem unable to drive any significant change in market conditions, and therefore the dominant driver remains capacity. With no reduction in the level of capacity, the restriction of insurers' ability to increase premiums looks set to continue.”
