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US court of appeals rule in case involving fatal air crash in Dominica

Staff writer -TDN
Sunday April 24, 2011
@ 12:15 p.m.


Miami (TDN)-The United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit in Miami has upheld a ruling in the District Court denying claimants damages in a case arising out of the fatal crash of Cardinal Airlines, Inc.'s flight 947 on August 23, 1998.
cessna 402
A cessna 402 like the one pictured was involved in the fateful crash in 1998.

The flight originated in St. Maarten with ten passengers including nine Dominican citizens, one Netherland citizen and the lone Nigerian pilot, and crashed shortly after receiving clearance to land in Melville Hall, Dominica at about 5:53 P.M.

There were no survivors. A 10 year old boy survived the initial crash but died at the Princess Margaret Hospital one day later. In Francois v. Hartford Holding Company, representatives for Havis Francois of the Netherlands and Joyce Sharplis from Dominica assert wrongful-death claims on behalf of their estates against Cardinal Airlines and Air Anguilla, Inc., which maintained and flew the aircraft for Cardinal Airlines.

On appeal, they asked the Court of Appeals to review an order of the District Court dismissing the case on forum non conveniens grounds, without prejudice to refile their actions in Dominica.

The appeals court upheld the District Court ruling that it had no jurisdiction in the matter and that the courts of Dominica were more than adequate to handle wrongful death claims.

“After reviewing the briefs and relevant portions of the record, we conclude that the District Court in this case correctly determined that the Commonwealth of Dominica provides an adequate alternative forum, considered all of the relevant public and private interest factors, and balanced those factors reasonably.”

The appeals court further stated that “the District Court determined that Dominica is an adequate alternative forum for the prosecution of plaintiffs' claims because Cardinal has consented to jurisdiction in Dominica; Dominican law recognizes wrongful-death claims; a "savings provision" in Dominica's Transnational Causes of Action (Product Liability) Act ("TCAPL Act") extends the statute of limitations for cases filed in Dominica after dismissal by a foreign court on forum non conveniens grounds; and Dominican courts have indicated, in a parallel case involving these parties and this incident, that they will enforce Cardinal's agreement to waive the statute of limitations with respect to plaintiffs' claims.

When the aircraft crashed only a few miles from the Melville Hall airport in 1998 it was only the second fatal crash in the country’s history. In 1974 a small airplane carrying four Puerto Rican businessmen crashed in the mountains around the airport killing all on board.

The passengers on that fateful day were serving police officer, Glenville Lewis, Josephine and Nyanna Francois, Jonathan Lake, Latoya James, Valda Simon, Marcus "Alleyne" Webster, Ann-Marie Guye, Marlon Royer and Captain Ilouba "Chris" Adingupu.




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