Blenheim family get Pan-Am settlement

Press, 7 August 1978, Page 2

Blenheim family get Pan-Am settlement

NZPA staff correspondent San Francisco

A Blenheim woman whose husband was among 17 New Zealanders killed in the crash of a Pan American World Airways Boeing jet at Pago Pago, American Samoa, in January. 1974, will receive several hundred thousand dollars from the airline in settlement worked out in Los Angeles. A San Francisco lawyer, Mr Frank Demanes, has told NZPA that the money will go to Mrs Sylvia Forbes and her three children, the youngest of whom L now 20.

Mrs Forbes's husband, Aynsley Stuart Forbes, then 51, and a captain with Safeair, Ltd, died in the crash of the Boeing as it attempted a nigh’’ landing at Pago Pago.

Only four of the 101 people aboard the aircraft survived.

Mr Demanes declined to reveal precise details of the settlement worked out with Pan .American and its insurance representatives, but said the airline’s payout would amount to "several hundred thousand dollars.” Mr Demanes said that the lawyer who represents Mrs Forbes advised settlement on the basis that he thought the offer was appropriate and I fair compensation. "I agreed with that recom-'

Imendation,” Mr Demanes added. He noted that Pan Aren-1 can intended to appeal! against the jury’s decision, and would fight any award of punitive damages. “The way it looks now is that Pan Am will fight all the way and appeals and further litigation could last up to four years.” he said. Under the settlement, Mrs Forbes “waives any claim against Pan Am for punitive damages." "By settling now Mrs Forbes gets a very considerable amount of money which she can invest. Hanging on could cause years of waiting and would be a terrible hardship on her and others in the same situation,” he said. The settlement with Pan American came a week after a Los Angeles jury, after listening to almost eight months of evidence about the crash in damages actions, found the airline guilty of "wilful misconduct.”

It was the only settlement ; after two days of bargaining between the airline and its representatives and a battery of lawyers for relatives of victims of the crash. Two years ago, hewever, the airline paid out to two i elderly ”• -idmdthers, one in I New Zealand, the other in Canada, the o-.b relatives of

>,the family of Grant and Ber-! I nice Dunsby and their two, •Ichildren, of Newlands, Wei-, l-lington. The entire Dunsby! . family was killed in the! I crash. The other cases were not ■ settled last week because I Pan American’s offers were I insufficient, according to Mr Dan Cathcart of Los Angeles, lead attorney for lawyers 1 representing relatives. Mrs Forbes’s claim against ; the airline was settled, Mr Demanes said, "because we > got a favourable settlement on compensatory damages, ’ one that was better than we ; expected.” Last week it appeared the j jury would consider the ' question of punitive damages against th airline on August 22 and that victims’ ! relatives would later press . compensatory claim actions against the airline if dam- : ages offers were inadequate. But now the airline is considering new legal moves and appeals. Pan American now is

claiming that New York law (the company’s headquarters is in New York city), which forbids pt litive damages, should apply rather than California law which does not. The appeal judge might also decide to apply the law of the nation of domicile of victims or relatives.