Aviation / Loss of rudder

On March 9th 2005, Mr Renaud Brillant filed a motion for authorization to institute a class action against Air Transat for an incident that occurred on March 6th, 2005 on flight number TS 961. Herman Croteau also filed a similar motion. These two motions were joined together and are jointly led by the firms of TRUDEL JOHNSTON & LESPÉRANCE and BROCHET DUSSAULT LEMIEUX LAROCHELLE.

On March 6th 2005, during the flight between Varadero and Quebec, an Airbus A-310 aircraft from Air Transat lost part of its rudder. This incident was traumatizing for the passengers and forced the aircraft to return to Varadero. Following this incident, the Respondent proceeded with an inspection of all its aircrafts of the same type, which caused delays for the members of the group.

On May 28th 2007, the Court of Appeal authorized Class Action but only for the delay during the flight TS961 between Varadero and Quebec on March 6th and 7th 2005. The Court of Appeal refused to authorize the Class action for the psychological damages sustained by the passengers.

On August 27th 2007, leave was sought to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada which refused it.

In October 2010, a settlement was reached between the parties whereby class members were compensated for the delays they experienced.

06/11