Airline stalling over payout to N.Z. couple

Press, 6 October 1980, Page 2

Airline stalling over payout to N.Z. couple

PA Hamilton The New Zealand couple awarded heavy damages for injuries suffered in a 1974 Pan American World Airways air crash do not expect to see their money for years, if ever.

Roger and Heather Cann, of Waihi Beach, are bitter against the airline which they say has sworn to appeal against the judgment “until the cows come home.” . Pan American even refused to refund the cost ,of their tickets from Auckland to Pago Pago, American Samoa, where the Boeing 707 crashed and caught fire in a tropical rainstorm. The ■airline held that it had “delivered*-’ its -passengers, Mr Cann said on Saturday. For the Canns the flight was a first air trip and the start of a honeymoon. Only four people survived the crash and.fire; 97 died. Mr Cann was reluctant to Talk?, about the judgment and had; made efforts to avoid the pews media and questions; “Probably the only thing ■that should be said is that no way is this money about to be paid’out. We are not expecting to get any money for a long time,” he said.

The Canns do not want to talk about their injuries, suffering, or lasting disabilities for fear it could prejudice their chances of a settlement one day. Nor would they say how much had been awarded. The figures would be meaning-

less and misleading, they said.

Mr Cann, a lawyer, said legal costs fighting the case would be on the usual arrangement of a percentage of moneys awarded. The Canns are particularly bitter that Pan American even refused to help with special hospital expenses incurred over the years as a result of crash injuries. “Thev have adopted a completely arrpgant attitude over the whole matter,” Mr Cann said. The case had reached the point where telling the story to the news media was nerhaps the only way to force progress, Mr Cann said. . , t He was highly critical of the American judge, William Bvrne, and a situation which obliged claimants to take special legal action to force him to sign judgment papers — 18 months after jury findings were returned. “Pan American say that regardless of what happens they are going to apneal as long as they can. We are going to have to go back to the drawing board. It will take vears to dispose of the apoeals. There are countless courts in the American system and it seems they can aopeal for ever.” Judge Byrne had refused to deal with imnortant issues such as inflationnroofing damages awarded Mr Cann said. “We have waited so long now for something to happen that this money is not even part of our thinking any more.” Mr Cann believed a few people had achieved settlements out of court, but these, too, were delayed by the iudge. The Canns are cynical about the insurance company involved — “Some man in New York had decided tc freeze these claims out. This is a deliberate policy by some insurance companies, and they have made a work of art of it,” Mr Cann said.

People should be made- tc realise that glossy brochures with undertakings that airlines would take care of you could be complete lies, he said.