Bahamian senior attorney and aviation expert Llewellyn Boyer-Cartwright was selected as one of eight people from around the world to sit at a virtual round table, updating professionals and discussing legal, commercial and environmental issues related to aviation.
The Corporate LiveWire Round table: Aviation Law 2013 took place in real time late June but remains available online at http://www.corporatelivewire.com/round-tables.html?id=aviation-law-2013.
“In our Aviation roundtable eight experts from around the world discussed the complexities of personal injury claims, environmental concerns and technological advances as well as providing an insurmountable insight into the impact of the latest legislative and regulatory changes and a glimpse into what the future may have in store,” said Jake Powers of CorporateLivewire.com.
Experts addressed questions ranging from ash detection technology to personal injury cases — a subject Boyer-Cartwright took the lead on with some 15,000 viewing live and up to 50,000 likely to visit over the month. According to organizers, the audience is made up of CEOs, CFOs, managing directors, directors of multi-national firms and corporate finance executives.
The former commercial pilot who took up law and holds a Master’s degree in Aviation Science explained distinctions between aviation personal injury and other negligence or personal injury cases.
“In aviation personal injury claims the issues are usually complex; questions that arise are what caused the aviation accident, where did the accident occur, where is the aircraft registered, what are the nationalities of the victims? In some cases the responsible party may be the operator of the aircraft, the manufacturer of the aircraft, the owner or operator of the aircraft or the maintenance supplier or a combination thereof. The applicable laws will vary from state to state or country to country, depending on the nature of the accident a claim may be made, for example, in negligence or product liability, and can in some cases involve the Government.
“Various laws will apply, for example FARs, ICAO rules and regulations for contracting states, domestic or international civil aviation law (as the case may be), tort and product liability etc. The Montreal Convention, 1999 (formerly the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air) amended certain provisions of the Warsaw Convention regarding compensation for the victims of air disasters. The main purpose of the Montreal Convention was to amend liabilities to be paid to families for death or injury whilst on board an aircraft,” said Boyer-Cartwright, a partner at Callenders law firm with offices in Nassau, Lyford Cay and Grand Bahama. “Victims and family members have the right to file a personal injury claim for compensation. Whatever the cause of an aviation accident/incident, negligence, pilot error, or mechanical defects, the airline, owner /operator, can be responsible for full liability.”
Boyer-Cartwright, along with the Bahamas Financial Services Board, has been calling for the establishment of a Bahamas international aircraft registry similar to the Bahamas Maritime Authority, citing numerous spin-off benefits, including giving rise to an aviation industry in the country. Boyer-Cartwright has also been invited to address a major aviation conference in Aruba later this year.
