Legal Position Regarding Compensation

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26916, 30 October 1948, Page 6

Legal Position Regarding Compensation

P.A. WELLINGTON, Oct. 29. If the passengers in the crashed airliner Kaka have perished, their dependents or relatives have no legal entitlement to claim the maximum £SOOO compensation provided by the Death and Accidents Compensation Act, 1908, unless negligence is proved against the corporation, according to Mr K. J. Crichton, secretary to the board and staff supervisor of the New Zealand National Airways Corporation.

Regulations published in February, 1947, restricted the liability of the corporation in respect of passengers’ claims rising from death or personal injury to the passenger, said Mr Crichton. Quoting the regulations, he said, “No claim shall be made against a corporation in respect of personal

injury to or the death of any passenger caused by any occurrence on board an aircraft during a flight or caused by any occurrence in the course of any of the operations of emplaning or deplaning at an aerodrome, except by a passenger or, in the case of the death of the passenger, by or for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent and child of the passenger, or by the passenger’s personal representative. No claim in respect of these matters shall be made for a larger sum than £5000.” Facilities for a personal accident cover for any passenger wishing to take out a cover for a particular day or for any amount required, regardless of negligence, were on sale at all booking offices, said Mr Crichton. The regulations and by-laws were also available for perusal at all booking offices