The president of The Bahamas Bar Association, an American aviation specialist, and a local psychiatrist have urged caution as Bahamian families get set to navigate through a legal minefield in taking Chalk’s Ocean Airways to court.
The experts said one wrong move and the families of the December 19 crash victims could receive less money than they bargained on.
According to Wayne Munroe, the Bar Association president, “one has to be very careful when one considers whether to settle a matter or to litigate it.”
“With the U.S. being the jurisdiction that it is, this means getting the right lawyer who has [the families’] interest at heart and not [his or her] own personal agenda,” he said in an interview with The Bahama Journal recently.
“If the government wishes to assist the people of Bimini this would mean having someone independent advise them on whether they should settle or litigate.”
Meantime, Jack London, a Texas-based aviation law specialist, warned against early aggressive lawsuits launched by the attorneys of families who lost loved ones in the crash off Miami Beach.
Mr. London said this could have the adverse effect of hindering efficient trial preparations.
“Once people go and try to do the right thing as Chalk’s Air will say it is doing and the NTSB and the federal investigators will say they are doing, and they are rewarded by early aggressive lawsuits, their response almost invariably is to put the people who file those lawsuits at the bottom of the chain of information and stop communicating with them or helping them in any way,” he said.
“It interferes with the investigations and trial preparations.”
Mr. London noted that the burden of proof rests with the attorneys representing the families.
According to Mr. Munroe, if it cannot be shown that the carrier is guilty of “willful default” then any payout would be limited.
Mr. London has cautioned lawyers against moving too quickly to obtain their clients a share of the airline’s $50 million insurance policy.
More companies – inclusive of government agencies – might be legally and financially accountable, he said, but that information will only come to light if the official investigation into the seaplane crash is allowed to run its course.
Mr. London advised that one wrong legal move could result in the family receiving money quickly, but in a relatively reduced amount.
“Until you know who all the participants are, and there are more participants than Chalk’s who had a role in this wing condition, pursuing only one of them to a resolution has the very real legal potential danger of letting the fish off the hook who are really responsible,” he said.
Mr. London noted that a company would have had to design, engineer, test and approve the modifications of the plane. Therefore, he believes one of the first legal moves should be to ascertain the technological history of the aircraft.
During a press conference last Tuesday, attorney Manuel Von Ribbeck announced intentions to go after the insurance policy of not only Chalk’s, but everyone connected to the airline’s operations.
Before that, a class action lawsuit was filed by a Florida attorney on behalf of some of the families. The lawsuit alleges that Chalk’s failed to properly maintain the seaplane.
The lawyer involved told The Bahama Journal that the purpose of the suit was to ensure that each of the victim’s families share equally in the $50 million insurance policy Chalk’s carries.
A warning, meanwhile, has also come from local psychiatrist Dr. David Allen, who said that in the immediate aftermath of such tragedies, it is not unusual for family members of victims to be in such a mental state that they may not be looking at the full picture.
Dr. Allen also said studies have shown that in such times of tremendous grief, the IQ of the grieving party tends to drop.
That’s why, he said, family members should hold off on immediate lawsuits.
The preliminary report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board indicates that the aircraft in question had cracks in both wings, not just one wing as the NTSB had first reported.
The right wing of the Chalk’s Ocean Airways plane separated from the fuselage shortly before the crash.
The 58-year-old, G-73 turbine Mallard plummeted into the ocean minutes after taking off for Bimini. Eleven Biminites, including three infants, were among the 20 people killed.
The NTSB’s final report is expected to be completed within a year.
By: Tosheena Robinson-Blair, The Bahama Journal
