Fly Jamaica has been slapped with a second lawsuit by another Canadian law firm representing passengers who were onboard accident at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
According to a press release issued by Rochon Genova LLP, a class action lawsuit was filed on Friday seeking just compensation to passengers and their families who have been harmed as a result of the “dreadful accident.”
Four passengers, Invor Bedessee, Shanta Persaud, Harpreet Singh and Zakran Ally, are said to be proposed representative plaintiffs in the suit.
Due to the severity of this crash landing and the ensuing emergency evacuation, the release said, passengers suffered many injuries and lost valuable belongings.
The release further noted that Minister of Public Infrastructure has reported that the flight crew did not declare an emergency with air traffic control prior to landing. As a result, it said emergency crash fire and rescue vehicles and personnel were delayed in their arrival at the crash scene, and passengers had to make their way back to the air terminal on their own.
Meanwhile, Managing Partner of Rochon Genova LLP Joel Rochon is quoted as saying, “A timely and fair resolution of this case is of critical importance to the victims and their families. Only a focused approach to this litigation, having regard to precisely what went wrong, can achieve this result.”
The law firm has extensive experience in both aviation and class action litigation and it has represented passengers and also air carriers, manufacturers and airports for more than 20 years. Additionally, the law firm’s Class Actions group comprises seven lawyers practising class action litigation full time.
This is the second class action law suit to have been filed against the Kingston, Jamaica-based airline in the past two weeks.
Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP (HSH), together with Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman LLP filed a class action lawsuit on November 23rd. John and Tulsidai Somwar are said to be listed as the representative plaintiffs for that proposed class action.
Directly addressing the concerns of the November 9th accident at the CJIA, the law firms noted that after a long frustrating period, Canadian passengers finally returned to Toronto the following week.
However, many of the passengers have since criticised Fly Jamaica for the lack of communication following the crash landing, while valuable belongings left on the plane after evacuating, such as jewellery, cash and electronics, were unaccounted for.
“Victims of this accident deserve answers and compensation for their pain, suffering and losses,” the two firms said in a statement.
Toronto, Canada-bound Fly Jamaica flight OJ 256 returned to CJIA after experiencing hydraulic issues. The aircraft, however, overshot the open runway and veered to a closed section, resulting in damage to the right wing. The plane was immediately evacuated.
Ten passengers were taken to the hospital soon after. An eleventh person, Rookhia Kalloo, 86, was subsequently hospitalised with a fractured skull several days later and died.
