[Peetwo]

Ben scoops the pool, Karen 1 – Ass wipe conglomerate 0.  Well done that Judge; MTF when we catch up with Karen.  Good news day – YOU BET.

Ben Sandilands at Plane Talking – HERE   Bravo Ben.

Well done KC (akaZiggy)...some semblance of Justice at last...

Pel-Air crash victim wins right to compensation for PTSD

Ben Sandilands | May 15, 2015 11:31AM


Karen Casey, featured in a recent 4 Corners report on her struggle for compensation

Karen Casey, the nurse who was seriously injured in the Pel-Air crash near Norfolk Island in 2009, has won the right to compensation from the air operator for damages for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

A judge of the Supreme Court in Sydney ruled that compensation does apply in the case brought by Ms Casey because like all her other crash related injuries, her PTSD is a bodily injury.

The defence had argued in the case brought against Pel-Air by the former nurse that the Montreal Convention that relates to damages arising from aviation accidents excluded compensation for psychological injury.

The parties will now consider the detail of the judgment prior to the compensation to be awarded to Ms Casey being determined in further proceedings.

Ms Casey was among the six people on board the Pel-Air Westwind corporate jet conducting a medical evacuation from Apia to Melbourne  on 18 November 2009 when it was ditched in the sea after being unable to land for refueling at Norfolk Island because of a deterioration in the forecast weather conditions.

The crash has been the subject of prolonged controversy over the conduct and procedures of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in determining that the captain of the jet was to blame for the accident.

That report by the ATSB has since been discredited by a peer review of the Australian agency’s procedures by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, and caused the original ATSB final report to be withdrawn, pending its doing a new, comprehensive and professional report into the accident.

The ATSB was also directed to retrieve and if possible, read the flight information on the Pel-Air jet’s flight data recorder, which it has previously refused to recover from the sea floor.

A Senate inquiry into the conduct of the ATSB was severely critical of testimony made by its chief commissioner Martin Dolan, and found that the aviation safety regulator, CASA had suppressed an internal review which found that had it carried out its duties of oversight of Pel-Air, the accident might have been prevented.

That suppressed document, tabled and made public by the Senate inquiry, showed that Pel-Air was in multiple significant breaches of the safety regulations  at the time of the crash, and that CASA had inter alia, failed in its duties  in relation to Pel-Air’s operations.
Chief Commissioner Dolan had insisted in testimony to the Senate hearing that the matters revealed by the CASA internal audit were not relevant to its now discredited and withdrawn final report into the crash.

Comment This morning’s decision by the Supreme Court may have implications in Australia and world wide by way of potential legal precedent for the application of the Montreal Convention to crash victim compensation claims where previously it has been invoked to exclude damages for post traumatic stress disorder.

However it isn’t clear at this stage as to whether this morning’s decision can be successfully interpreted as setting a broad legal precedent, rather than a narrow interpretation that might be limited to a set of evidence similar to that brought in relation to this case.

 
And from the other Aunty..

Nurse successfully sues Pel-Air for psychological injuries after Norfolk Island plane crash



Photo: A court rules Pel-Air crash survivor Karen Casey is entitled to compensation for PTSD. (Four Corners)


A nurse who survived a plane crash off Norfolk Island has successfully sued the operator of the flight for psychological injury, in a ruling that could have wide legal ramifications.
Karen Casey took Pel-Air Aviation to the New South Wales Supreme Court over the 2009 crash, which also left her with significant physical injuries.

Six people were on board the plane, including Ms Casey and a doctor, David Helm, when it crashed near Norfolk Island.

The plane had been carrying a seriously ill patient and her husband on a care flight from Samoa to Melbourne when it ditched with low fuel in bad weather.

All six people on board survived the plane crash and spent 90 minutes in a raging sea in the middle of the night with too few life jackets.

Pel-Air accepted that the crash had been caused by the negligence of the plane's pilots and there was no issue with the fact it was liable for the physical injuries of Ms Casey and Dr Helm.

Ms Casey then took her case to the Supreme Court to decide if she could be compensated for the psychological injuries she suffered.

She welcomed today's Supreme Court decision, saying no one should be forced to go through what she has.

Four Corners: Crash landing

In 2012, Four Corners talked to the people on board and those involved in the flight, investigating what really happened that fateful night.

Speaking outside the court, Ms Casey said she would like to see justice in aviation laws in Australia and internationally.

"It's been an extremely long, hard road to fight for the rights that we should have," she said.
"I'm very happy with the outcome, but it's certainly not over yet because it's an international [issue] that needs to be recognised.
"No one should have to go through this again, no one.
"I've learned a lot, it's been a fight and a struggle.
"I've almost lost my mind a few times because of it."

International convention limits liability of air carriers

Australia is a signatory to the 1999 Montreal Convention, which allows compensation to international plane crash victims for death or "bodily injury" but effectively bans compensation for psychological trauma.

But today the New South Wales Supreme Court found Ms Casey's post-traumatic stress disorder should be compensated, because it too is a bodily injury.

Ms Casey's long-running fight for compensation was supported by Senator Nick Xenophon, who sought to introduce a private members bill in Federal Parliament to ensure plane crash survivors could be compensated for psychological trauma.

The Casey family previously told the ABC's Four Corners program there was little doubt that surviving a plane crash could ruin a person's life.

Ms Casey's daughter, Jemma Patten, said her mother left for work one day and another person came home.

"She came home and she just was completely different," she said.
"Her face, her mood, her body language just was different.
"It was cold, it just wasn't mum."

MTF..P2