The Morse Law Group

A Canadian who assembled a home-built aircraft sued the kit manufacturer in Nova Scotia. Engineering analysis showed that the aircraft was destroyed by accident forces and not by defective welds. We retained and supervised Canadian counsel to defend the lawsuit and bring about a resolution of the claim on the merits.

An Airbus A340 was damaged, resulting in a repair claim in excess of $15 million. On behalf of the component part manufacturer, we participated in the French Judicial Expertise, an initial proceeding in which judicial experts are appointed by the French Court, le Cour Tribunal de Paris. This involved collection and analysis of documents, interviews with persons having knowledge of pertinent facts, and site visits to the premises of the plaintiff and the defendants. Expertise meetings were held in the United States, France (Paris and Toulouse) and Mauritius. Rather than allow the French court to resolve the matter under French law, we commenced a separate action in New York, asking the New York Court to enforce a contract term requiring the dispute to be resolved in a New York Court under New York law. The New York Court enforced the contract and entered Judgment against the airline. We then obtained a Decree from the French Court holding that the New York Judgment was to be recognized and enforced in France.

An Airbus A330 was damaged on the ground in Singapore, resulting in a repair claim in excess of $15 million.  The airline's insurer sued the aircraft and component manufacturer in France, seeking recovery of the repair costs; the airline made its own claim for loss of use damages in excess of $5 million.  On behalf of the component manufacturer we participated in the Judicial Expertise to determine the cause of the accident, the entities at fault for causing the accident and the nature and extent of the damages sustained.  Based on the choice of law provision in the aircraft purchase agreement the dispute had to be resolved in a French court under French law, under which cases are generally resolved by a three judge panel on the basis of written submissions and a brief oral argument.  In conjunction with French counsel we prepared the documentation to present our case to the French court.  To support our position and to explain the facts of this technical case we prepared a thirty three minute animated video and presented a copy to each of the three judges on the panel as part of our written presentation.  The Court agreed with our position, entering Judgment against the airline and its insurer.