Wednesday, June 12, 2024 On June 10, 2024, the Honourable Justice Jasmine Akbarali of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released her judgment in a mass tort liability trial brought against Ukraine International Airlines JSC (“UIA”) by the estates and family members of the passengers who tragically died aboard UIA Flight PS752 when it was shot down on January 8, 2020, by two surface-to-air missiles launched by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”). This liability trial determined UIA’s responsibility in 101 individual actions and one class proceeding, almost all governed by the Montreal Convention and the Carriage by Air Act. In a 78-page decision delivered after an 18-day trial, Justice Akbarali held that UIA had failed to meet its unique burden under the Montreal Convention to prove that it was not negligent in allowing Flight PS752 to depart from Tehran in the early hours of January 8, 2020.
As such, UIA has unlimited liability to the estates and family members of the deceased passengers for their compensable damages. On the morning of January 8, 2020, Flight PS752 departed from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport (“IKA”). Minutes after takeoff, Flight PS752 was shot down by the IRGC, and all 176 passengers and crew lost their lives.
Justice Akbarali found that UIA, by allowing Flight PS752 to depart in the circumstances that existed at IKA on the morning of January 8, 2020, breached the standard of care expected of international air c.
