NSWCA AFFIRMS DECISION OF THE DISTRICT COURT THAT INJURY CAUSED BY OVERHEAD LOCKER NOT AN ARTICLE 17 ACCIDENT
The New South Wales Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a passenger who was injured when an overhead compartment landed on her thumb during a flight from Dubai to Sydney.
The case was first heard by the District Court of New South Wales. The passenger, Mrs Salih. alleged that when she opened the overhead locker the compartment door feel very quickly and suddenly, landing on her thumb and causing injury.
An Emirates engineer demonstrated that the overhead locker had not been identified as defective and the passenger’s husband opened the locker shortly after the incident and it opened in the ordinary way. Based on this evidence, the trial Judge held that the overhead locker opened in the ordinary fashion and rejected the passenger’s claim that it dropped suddenly. Accordingly, the trial Judge held there was no accident within the meaning of Article 17 of the Montreal Convention 1999 and the passenger was not entitled to recover compensation from Emirates.
There was an application for leave to appeal on the basis that the trial Judge had wrongly decided that the overhead locker had opened in the usual way. What was not in dispute in the Court of Appeal was that if the locker had opened normally there was no accident for the purpose of Article 17 as the event was part of the ordinary operation of the aircraft.
The Court of Appeal held there was no basis for a challenge to the findings of the trial Judge that the locker opened in the ordinary way, and on that basis refused leave to appeal.
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