Topline
Delta’s goodwill gesture to survivors of the plane crash in Toronto may just be the beginning of the compensation the airline will eventually pay.
A Delta Air Lines plane lay on the snowy runway after it crash-landing at Toronto Pearson … [+]
Key Facts
Delta Air Lines is offering $30,000 to each passenger on board the Mitsubishi CRJ-900 regional jet that crash-landed and flipped over in Toronto Monday, for a total of $2.3 million if everyone on board were to accept the offer.
The last of the 21 passengers treated in a hospital has been released, Delta said Thursday.
Delta confirmed to Forbes the offer comes with “no strings attached and does not affect rights,” adding that “out of respect of that communication to our customers” it will not make the full details of the offer public.
Three aviation law firms told Forbes they have been in contact with or been retained by multiple passengers from Delta flight 4819.
Andres Pereira of Austin, Tex.-based DJC Law, told Forbes he will file a complaint today in federal court in Atlanta, where Delta is based, on behalf of a client who described hanging upside down inside the plane with jet fuel leaking on him, then falling on his head after unstrapping his seat belt and “immediately [injuring] his head and neck and back” as a result.
Key Background
Offers of compensation from an airline to surviving passengers of a crash is not unprecedented in the aviation world “but the fact that [Delta has] done it so quickly does concern me,” said Antonio Romanucci, a founding partner at the Chicago-based law firm of Romanucci & Blandin. “Delta may be hoping that some passengers do not want to endure the process of litigation and may just take this payment and walk away, but I would be very surprised if a single passenger does that here,” Erin Applebaum, an aviation partner at Kreindler & Kreindler in New York, told Forbes.
Crucial Quote
“What I would expect is that everybody on that plane who didn’t have a physical injury that brought them to a hospital is going to see a mental health specialist of some kind in order to deal with the PTSD issues that they’re probably going to have,” said Romanucci.
Contra
The flight crew was experienced and had “performed heroically, but also as expected” because “safety is embedded into our system,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CBS News Wednesday.
What To Look For
“You will see lawsuits,” said Romanucci. “What we know about this incident is somebody failed to do something, or somebody did not follow instructions, or did not follow a protocol. Typically, survivors band together and they talk, they start chat groups, and if one of them seeks an attorney, I would have the high expectation that many, if not all of them, will.”
Tangent
The Montreal Convention 1999 (MC99) applies to all international flights between countries that have signed the treaty, including the U.S. and Canada. MC99 establishes airline liability in the case of death or injury to passengers, as well as in cases of delay, damage or loss of baggage and cargo. “In a traditional Montreal Convention case, the damages awards are capped at $200,000 as long as the airline can show that they weren’t negligent,” said Applebaum. “But they’re not going to be able to show that, so the cap on damages is not applicable to this matter.”