Aviation Law
Our aviation law practice is an advocacy practice led by Doug Worndl of our Toronto office, who has, over the last +20 years:
- defended dozens of insured claims on behalf of aviation insured defendants, including: claims on behalf of international airlines arising out of the international carriage of passengers and cargo pursuant to the Warsaw Convention / Hague Protocol / Montreal Agreement / Montreal Convention regimes, as well as arising out of domestic air carriage; claims on behalf of airports, aircraft manufacturers and aviation component manufacturers (these mandates have been the product of appointment by aviation insurance underwriters in London, New York and in Canada);
- acted as instructing counsel on aviation matters where local counsel in other jurisdictions have been appointed to defend insured aviation claims;
- prosecuted subrogated claims on behalf of aviation insurance underwriters;
- prosecuted and defended commercial claims arising out of contract and other disputes on behalf of members of the aviation industry;
- defended international airlines in test-case prosecutions under the Immigration Act;
- participated as counsel to a major public inquiry into an aviation disaster;
- assisted foreign aviation litigation counsel with the collection of evidence in Canada by way of the letters rogatory / letters of request process;
- assisted foreign aviation litigation counsel with the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents in Canada as undertaken by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Example mandates include:
- On behalf of UK aircraft landing gear manufacturer and its insurers, successful summary judgment motion dismissing airline subrogated action arising out of airliner accident upon collapse of landing gear. Court of Appeal (and judge at first instance) upheld strict application of the terms of a liability exclusion clause in a product supply contract.
- Defended US jet airliner manufacturer in 3 related multi-party subrogation actions arising out of crash of jet airliner in Toronto. This air-disaster litigation spanned several years and involved many weeks of discovery, thousands of productions, and multiple interlocutory motions and appeals.
- On behalf of Canadian air cargo operator and insurer, prosecuted multi-party subrogated action arising out of two related aircraft collisions on ground at Mirabel airport.
- Defended U.S. helicopter manufacturer in four related multi-party actions by surviving dependants arising out of multi-fatal crash of military aircraft.
- On behalf of U.S. aircraft restoration company, prosecuted suit to enforce security and gain possession over six surplus Canadian military jet aircraft.
- Prosecuted claims by aviation component manufacturer against existing and former employees. Involved injunction application; allegations of breach of fiduciary duty; theft of proprietary information.
- Counsel to Federal Commission of Inquiry into the Air Ontario Crash at Dryden, Ontario. Arises out of March 10, 1989 crash of a Fokker F-28 in which 24 individuals perished. Involved investigation of air crew, airline, and aircraft operations and the effectiveness of regulatory oversight by Transport Canada. Two and one half year engagement involving more than 160 hearing days, and multi volume report to Parliament which served as catalyst to substantial improvements in aviation safety in Canada.