Air N.Z. faces U.S. claims

Press, 26 February 1980, Page 6

Air N.Z. faces U.S. claims

PA Wellington The first claims on Air New Zealand arising from the Mount Erebus disaster have been filed in United States courts. The claims have been lodged on behalf of ? three United States citizens-who died in the crash on November 28. f ,Mr Lloyd Brown, Q.C., of Auckland r- retained by Air New Zealand to advise on handling the expected claims — safd the three American claims were the only ones he knew of so far.' He did not know how much was being claimed. - Another .Auckland solicitor; Mr K. L. Peterson, has been appointed by the New Zealand Law Society to head a . committee of lawyers which is co-ordinating most

of the New Zealand claims. “We are watching the American claims with the greatest of interest,” he said. It was expected that relatives of most of the New Zealand victims aboard the aircraft would proceed against Air New Zealand’s London-based group of insurers under the Carriage by Air Act.

This act limits the liability of Air New Zealand to $42,000 for each passenger. But if it is shown that the flight to the Antarctic was an international flight rather than a domestic flight, the claim could be as much as $70,000 a passenger. Mr Peterson said that about 70 lawyers from throughout New Zealand would meet in Auckland on Friday to discuss the form of the claims.