Damages: No Room for Complacency

Analysis

On the morning of 10 February 2004 Kish Air Flight 7170 crashed on its approach to Sharjah International Airport. All but three of the plane's passengers were killed.

Among the victims was a wealthy 42-year-old Emirati national who was the sole breadwinner for his wife and eight children. In 2007, following the publication of the General Civil Aviation Authority report which concluded that pilot error was the cause of the accident, his family began legal action against the airline, demanding AED 14 million in compensation for the death (including financial and moral damages). Two years later, the UAE Federal Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Sharjah Court of First Instance to award just AED 864,000 to the aggrieved family.