Camp Fiorante Matthews represents the victims of aviation accidents in Canada and internationally.  Within Canada, the firm has successfully litigated claims on behalf of pilots and passengers injured or killed in aviation accidents in the courts of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Nunavut.  Internationally, the firm has teamed with lawyers in the United States on numerous occasions to represent Canadian victims of aircraft accidents arising from the failure of aircraft or aircraft components manufactured in the United States.  The firm has also acted in conjunction with foreign lawyers to represent victims of aviation accidents in France, Switzerland, and New Caledonia and has handled cases arising from accidents in Mexico, West Africa, Sudan, Papau New Guinea and the Republic of the Maldives.

The firm has experience in all facets of aviation litigation including claims against domestic carriers, claims arising under the Montreal and Warsaw Conventions on international carriage, mid-air collisions, air traffic control failures and product liability claims arising from the failure of aircraft systems and components.

Air Carrier Experience

The firm has acted for passengers in claims numerous air carriers including the following:

• Air Canada & Air Ontario
• Air Transat
• Aquila Air
• Sonic Blue / Regency Express
• Sunshine Coast Air Services
• Waglisa Air

Product Liability Experience

The firm has considerable experience in handling complex claims arising from failures of  aircraft components and systems including:

• engine failures, both piston and turbine
• failures of compressor turbine and power turbine blades in gas turbine engines resulting from casting, machining and other defects
• failure of helicopter transmissions including input freewheel units
• structural failure of fuselage components including helicopter tail booms;
• delamination of main rotor blades
• main rotor blade grip failures
• malfunctions and failures of fuel control units
• fuel oil heater failures
• in-flight break ups

The firm's experience in aviation product liability claims includes acting on claims against the following aerospace manufacturers:

• Sikorsky Helicopters
• Bell Helicopter Textron
• Eurocopter (Aerospatiale)
• McDonnell Douglas Helicopters
• The Boeing Company
• Allison Gas Turbines (Rolls-Royce)
• General Electric (Gas Turbine Engines)
• Textron Lycoming (Gas Turbine Engines and other components)
• Honeywell (various components including fuel control units)
• Pratt & Whitney
• Allied Signal, Inc (Bendix), (fuel control units)
• United Technology Corporation
• Airbus

A sample of our reported judgments in the field of aviation cases includes the following cases:

Daniska v. Heli-Max, 2006 NUCA 04

The firm successfully represented the estate of a university student  killed in a helicopter crash in Nunavut.  At the trial level, the firm successfully argued that under the Nunavut Trustee Act, claims for loss of earning capacity survive death so as to allow the estate to recover damages for prospective loss of earning capacity.  The decision was upheld by the Nunavut Court of Appeal in one of the first civil appeals heard by that Court and established the law on this issue in both Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Hayes Heli-Log Services Ltd.  v. Acro Aerospace Inc. 2006

BCCA 419

The firm represented pilots injured in the crash of a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter and successfully argued at the Court of Appeal that Sikorsky’s comments on a draft Canadian Transportation Safety Board (“TSB”) report were not privileged under the TSB Act when those comments had been provided to the United States Federal Aviation Administration.

Carpenter v. Whistler Air Services 2004 BCSC 1510

The firm successfully represented two passengers injured in the crash of a Beaver float plane into Green Lake at Whistler, BC.  The judgment at trial included a significant award for loss of earning capacity arising from mental injuries sustained in the accident. 

Chadwick v. Attorney General of Canada 2008 BCSC 1141

The firm successfully argued that a manufacturer of aircraft fuel pumps was required to produce documents pertaining to the history of fuel leakage in pumps sharing a common design as the fuel pump in issue in the case. 

Cole v. E&B Helicopters 2008 BCSC 12

The firm represented the pilot killed in the crash of a Robinson R22 helicopter and successfully argued that an investigator from the Transportation Safety Board be compelled to testify at trial regarding various tests which were conducted by the TSB on the helicopter’s electrical system following the accident. 

Coronation Insurance Company v. Taku Air Transport Ltd., [1991] 3 SCR 622

This case was brought on behalf of a passenger of a commercial Beaver flight which crashed. The action went to the Supreme Court of Canada and is one of the leading authorities in the area of aviation insurance law.

Rogers v. Air BC

This case pertained to a passenger who met his death while exiting an Air B.C. floatplane. The matter was favourably concluded both at the trial and at the Court of Appeal level.

Forsyth et al. v. Sikorsky et al., 2000 BCSC 642

This case arises out of the crash of a Sikorsky S-58T in which two pilots and a maintenace engineer suffered serious personal injury. The court found that a manufacturing defect was 50% responsible for the crash. Again, this case has been cited as one of the leading authorities on product liability in aviation context.

Huxley v. Aquila Air Ltd., [1995], 6 WWR 149 (BCSC)

This case arose out of the fatal crash of a commuter flight from Nanaimo Cassidy Airport to Vancouver International Airport. The decision in this case is one of the leading Canadian authorities on the question of success of carriage under the Warsaw Convention.