Plane Crash Fraud Charges in Brazil

November 25th, 2011  |  Comments

The AFP Global News Agency reported yesterday that federal prosecutors in Brazil have pressed charges against 20 individuals who claimed they were relatives of air crash victims.

According to prosecutors, the fraudsters faked social security documents and claimed they were relatives of deceased victims.  In reality, those victims had no heirs.  The fraudsters then illegally collected pensions, and allegedly netted $1.6 million from the scam.   

Plane crash victims from the following 3 crashes were targeted by the gang:  a)  Air France Flight 447,  b) Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907, and           c)  TAM Airlines Flight 3054.

Cockpit Voice Recording Decision Confirmed

October 8th, 2010  |  Comments

In a previous post, we reported the decision of Justice Strathy of the Ontario Superior Court requiring production by the TSB of the cockpit voice recording taken from the Air France A340 which crashed at Toronto Airport on August 2, 2005.

That decision was appealed by the TSB to the Court of Appeal for Ontario which recently dismissed the appeal and confirmed the decision of Justice Strathy.  Click here for the Court’s ruling.

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“It’s Already Been Brought” – Ontario Court Finds that Action is “Brought” Within the Meaning of Warsaw When Filed

June 8th, 2010  |  Comments

 Does the two-year limitation period stipulated by the Warsaw Convention for bringing an action pertain to the initial filing of the claim, or alternatively, to the filing AND service of the initiating documents on the opposing party?  This was the question before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in the recent case of Mosregion Investments Corporation et al. v. Ukraine International Airlines et al. 
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Court Orders Production of Cockpit Voice Recording

February 24th, 2010  |  Comments

A judge of the Ontario Superior Court has ordered the Canadian Transportation Safety Board to produce a copy of the cockpit voice recording (“CVR”) in the multi-million dollar litigation which followed an overrun accident at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson Airport.  On August 2, 2005, Air France Flight 358 approached Toronto Airport in a severe thunderstorm.  The aircraft landed almost halfway down the 9000 foot runway and reverse thrusters were not fully deployed for a further 17 seconds.  The aircraft left the end of the runway at approximately 80 knots, continuing over an open area until it slid into a ravine where it caught fire.   Click here for the Court’s ruling.

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