Air France Flight 358 – Update January 25, 2011

Class counsel has achieved settlement with all defendants in this matter. The settlement agreements and the court’s judgments regarding each settlement can be viewed below. The global settlement total was for $20,750,000. In addition, Class Counsel have recovered approximately $50,000 in costs as a result of success on various motions plus a modest amount of accrued interest of approximately $50,000, all of which will be added to the settlement fund.

Class counsel is now assisting the claims administrator to expeditiously process each individual claim. Processing of payments to Class Members will begin once all Class Members have signed and submitted the required release forms and all reviews of class member claims are complete. It is not known at this stage exactly how long the reviews will take, but Class Counsel are striving to have the settlement funds issued to class members by no later than mid-April 2011.

Legal Fees and Disbursements: The Court also approved class counsel fees in the amount of $6,225,000, plus applicable General Services Tax (GST) of $311,250 and additional case expenses in the amount of $165,174.99. The Court also approved payment of $18,403.76 in overlooked GST from previously approved class counsel disbursements and $22,275 for payment of deferred expert fees. Class counsel are entitled to be paid disbursements forthwith, but class counsel have undertaken not to be paid class counsel fees until the class members have been paid from the settlement fund. In addition, the Court approved a hold back of $25,000 to cover any additional expenses incurred up to February 28, 2011 for the completion of the case. Any expenses recovered out of this hold back are subject to prior court approval. Any funds remaining in this hold back at the conclusion of the case will be added to the settlement fund for distribution to class members.