Twenty-three families of the Dana Air plane crash victims have applied to the Federal High Court in Lagos to amend their compensation claims from the airline.
On June 3, 2012, Dana Air’s McDonnell Douglas MD-83 operating as Flight 992 crashed into a two-story building at Iju Railway, Ishaga, a Lagos suburb, killing all 153 people on board.
Justice Mohammed Idris has fixed October 21 to hear the case against Dana Airlines and the Estate of Pilot Peter Simon Waxtan brought by the families.
The judge had earlier ruled on four applications by the plaintiffs, granting all the reliefs sought.
The plaintiffs, among others, prayed for an order directing Dana to pay them the statutory advance payment of US $30,000.00 in full or the outstanding due advance payment.
They sought interest on the sum at the rate of 21 percent per annum from July 4, 2012, the 30th day after the air crash and the date on which the payments ought to have been made, until the date of the court’s order and at the rate of 10 percent per annum from the day the order was made till the sums are fully paid.
They also sought the costs of the applications assessed at US$10,000.00 each.
The applications were filed on the families’ behalf by a consortium of lawyers, Aviation Attorney Group, led by Oba Nsugbe, (QC, SAN) of Pump Court Chambers.
The consortium also includes; Dr. Babatunde Ajibade (SAN) who is the Managing Partner of the firm of SPA Ajibade & Co; Ajibola Dalley of GRF Dalley & Partners and their foreign colleagues Jim Morris and Rebecca Smith – both of Irwin Mitchell Solicitors in the United Kingdom.
The Aviation Attorney Group was formed to pursue, across jurisdictions, the statutory compensation due to the families/beneficiaries of the estates of the Dana Air crash victims.
The defendants, who denied the claims, had sought an order extending the time for them to appeal against the court’s ruling. They also want to stay execution of the ruling.
Nsugbe said they had also filed applications seeking to amend the claims to reflect the specific damages claimed against Dana as original pleadings did not particularise them.
Section 48 (3) of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Act (NCAA) 2006 requires a carrier to make advance payments of at least $30,000.00 within 30 days from the date of an accident resulting in death or injury of passengers, to the natural person or such natural persons who are entitled to claim compensation.
Dana Air and its insurers are said to have failed to pay the statutory advance compensation of US $30,000 to the families of several victims of the air crash.
In their defence, Dana Air and Stacey Veolette Sellers (who was sued as the personal representative of the Estate of Mr. Peter Simon Waxtan – the late pilot of the air craft) denied liability and disagreed with the interpretations the plaintiffs placed on relevant provisions of the Convention and the NCAA 2006 vis-à-vis their claims.
This was the basis upon which the plaintiffs filed applications and arguments, urging the court to determine certain points of law.
