Plane Accidents

Overview

Aviation accidents are often caused by failure to comply with federal rules and regulations governing the safety and maintenance of aircraft; negligence on the part of the pilot or flight crew members; defective or poorly maintained equipment and planes; and air traffic controller negligence. Depending on the cause of the accident, injured passengers and their families have different legal rights under state, federal, and international laws.

Federal Law

Under aviation accident law, two federal agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) , investigate aviation accidents and regulate air travel. The NTSB defines an aviation accident as "An occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage."

The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 created an independent body, the Federal Aviation Agency, with the authority to combat aviation hazards by issuing safety rules. The Act also charged the FAA with implementing a system of air navigation and air traffic control. The Federal Aviation Agency later became part of the Department of Transportation and was renamed the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA establishes safety standards for flight operations, the manufacture of aircraft, and pilot conduct. The rules, or Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs), are codified at Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Pilots have a legal duty to follow air safety rules, and if an accident results because of the pilot's failure to follow these rules, he or she may be liable for damages.

The General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) is a federal statue of repose that was adopted into law in 1994. A statute of repose is different than a statute of limitations; it requires that a lawsuit be filed within a certain amount of time, based on how long an airplane or equipment has been in service. GARA only allows a products liability suit to be filed against a general aviation manufacturer for an accident that happens more than eighteen years after the delivery of the aircraft to the dealer or customer . GARA only applies to small aircraft certified by the FAA.

State Law

Depending on the cause of an aviation accident, a victim or family member may also be able to file a lawsuit under state law, including products liability and wrongful death statutes. U.S. courts have allowed passengers on domestic flights to bring civil claims against airlines.

Most airline passengers, on both international and domestic flights, can now sue for compensatory damages. These include economic damages for financial losses caused by the injury or death, such as medical bills and lost wages, and non-economic damages, such as for pain and suffering caused by the injury or death. The amount of non-economic damages, where allowed, is determined by a jury.

International Law

The Warsaw Convention is an international agreement that sets forth legal standards for and limitations on an airline's liability for passengers, baggage, and goods in the event of an aviation accident. Where it applies, the Warsaw Convention presumes an air carrier is liable for injuries and deaths of passengers traveling internationally, though it also sets forth ways an airline may defend itself from liability. The Warsaw Convention contains limitations on the amount of damages an airline is liable for when an accident has occurred.

The Warsaw Convention only applies to the air carrier, and not the aircraft or equipment manufacturer, who may also be responsible for the accident, in whole or in part. This international agreement was signed in 1929 and has been amended several times, primarily because it originally set very low amounts that airlines had to pay when injuries or deaths occurred; the original Convention allowed a maximum recovery of $8,500. These limits applied in all cases, except where the harm was due to the carrier's willful misconduct.

The first major modifications to the Warsaw Convention were made in 1955 at The Hague; changes were made in a new Montreal Agreement 1975 and subsequently in 1999, in the Montreal Convention. The Montreal Convention will replace the Warsaw Convention system once it has been approved by all states, but for now, the Warsaw Convention, Hague Protocol and Montreal Agreement still apply to airline liability for passenger injuries and deaths, allowing a recovery of a minimum of $135,000 without having to prove the airline's negligence.

The Intercarrier Agreement

Starting in 1997, over 120 airlines signed an intercarrier agreement that amended the restrictions of the Warsaw Convention, Hague Protocol, and Montreal Agreement, and waived limits for air carrier liability set forth in those agreements. Now, in the United States and most countries, a victim or family member of someone injured in an international air accident may sue for full compensatory damages. In the United States, victims of international aviation accidents usually receive $135,000 from the involved airline, whether or not the airline admits fault, and can recover much more.