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Air Yemenia Crash: Americans strike-back
Published on Wednesday 3rd February, 2010 at 7:34amAir Crash Consultants, mandated by 35 families, will be in Marseille on Saturday.
American Law firm Masry & Vititoe and Air Crash Consultants, a US firm specialized in air crashes, who claim to defend 35 families of victims to this day, are increasing efforts and investigations in the U.S. to uncover all responsibilities.
According to George Hatcher, Air Crash Consultants’ president, who we have been able to reach yesterday in L.A, « our first goal is to obtain urgent financial compensation for the families, as some of them haven’t received anything yet. » We know the major problems that have quickly arisen to issue the death certificates, when people were missing without their bodies being found. We are studying all the evidence, because in the United States, the range of responsibilities is very varied. It goes beyond the airplane manufacturer. The bank which has allowed to operate the aircraft can be liable. Even if there was pilot error, it is never 100% pilot error, says Mr. Hatcher.
« The plane was nineteen years old. It was poorly maintained by the company. And it had a lot of U.S. components. » Manufacturers could be liable, as the company that operated the plane, if we are to believe Mr. Hatcher, the International Leasing Finance Corporation (ILFC), based in Los Angeles.
Will their investigation even call into question the responsibility of the Airbus manufacturer? Air Crash Consultants claims to have investigated in the past 45 years on 29 different cases of air crashes classified as « wrongful death » and being a consultant for the four largest law firms in the world specialized into « air crash cases ».
« If we had discovered that there were no other responsibilities involved, we would have stopped the investigation, Mr. Hatcher insists, because it requires important financial contributions ». The firm hopes to find weaknesses and move the case to the United States. The U.S. firm Masry and Vititoe has also given summons to Yemenia Airways to appear before hearing in front of Mister Chairman of the Supreme Court of Paris.
George Hatcher questioned the difference in the speed of action taken depending on which international conventions apply. The victims of flight Rio-Paris AF447 on June, 1 have received immediate provisional compensation, because Brazil and France are two rich countries that had ratified the Montreal Convention. To try to move things forward, George Hatcher will be in Marseille on Saturday, where he will meet the families of victims.
