Eight Guyanese crash victims serve writs on CAL

Caribbean Airlines Limited in Port-of-Spain has been served with writs from attorneys representing eight Guyanese passengers seeking compensation for injuries, losses and damage they suffered when Flight BW523 crash landed in Guyana two years ago.
Several other lawsuits have been filed in the New York courts, two of which were filed over a year ago. The writs were served locally on CAL on July 29, and lawsuits filed in the Guyana courts on July 26.
In response to the lawsuits, CAL Corporate Communications Director, Clint Williams, told TT media that, “it would be inappropriate for CAL to say anything at this time, because the matters are ongoing.”
According to the lawsuits filed by attorneys-at-law Sase Gunraj and Jaya Singh on behalf of the passengers, CAL is required to enter an appearance within ten days after the writ was served.
The passengers who filed lawsuits in Guyana, six from Guyana and two from the United States, are each claiming damages in excess of Gy$1 million (TT$34,000) “arising out of the negligent operation” of Flight BW 523. The CAL-operated aircraft overshot the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on July 30, 2011. The aircraft broke in half when it stopped on a dirt road some 200 feet away from a ravine.
According to media reports out of Trinidad, among those who have filed lawsuits in the New York courts are members of an extended family of seven who “are still waiting on Caribbean Airlines to fulfill some promises, to assist with medical expenses.”
The hearing into the matter in New York has been pending the outcome of the report of the investigations into the crash landing.
Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Zulfikar Mohammed, told TT media on Monday that the final report was almost complete. Once completed, he said it will be handed over to Guyana’s Public Works and Communications Minister, Robeson Benn, who is expected to make the report public. There has been several draft reports, including a “final draft” in which, a Guyanese official close to the investigations told reporters that investigators “found that the crash was due to human error.”
No one died in the crash, but passenger, Guyanese Noel Elliot of Washington DC suffered a broken right leg. He was hospitalised in Guyana for several days before flying to New York where the leg was amputated.
Elliot’s medical expenses were taken care of by CAL which has also outfitted him with a prosthetic leg.
He has not yet returned to work, and he is not among those who are suing CAL. “I have not sued CAL,” he told reporters. (TT Newsday)