Beneficiaries of victims of Davao plane crash to get paid soon

CHICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) - On Saturday, April 19, beneficiaries of the victims of the ill-fated Air Philippines Flight 541 will be commemorating the eighth anniversary of the crash, but they will not yet get the indemnity until three or four weeks after. Flight 541 exploded on impact off a 577-foot hill in Samal Island near Davao City in the Philippines eight years ago. This year’s anniversary commemoration is different from previous years’ as the US firms that leased the ill-fated flight have settled to indemnify the families and kin of the 131 who died in the crash. The beneficiaries are set to get one of the biggest individual settlements in the world – an average of about $1.25-M for each. But the recipients of the $165-M court-mediated settlement would not yet see the color of their money this coming Saturday. Perhaps, they will have to wait for “three to four weeks." “We are trying very hard to send away the monies of these beneficiaries. But the remaining paperwork and court issues will be worked out perhaps at least another three to four weeks, as the court wants to be sure that each family has a bank account somewhere where funds can be wired by the settlement trust in Chicago," according to Atty. Gerald C. Sterns, one of the lawyers, who represented the class action suit in the biggest airplane disaster settlements in Asia. Aside from Mr. Sterns, a name partner of California’s San Francisco-Oakland-based Sterns & Walker Aviation Attorneys, the others involved in the case are the Chicago-based Nolan Law Group, the Bowles & Verna LLP of Walnut Creek and the O’Reilley & Danko Law Offices in San Mateo. “Some of the beneficiaries don’t even have bank accounts, so there is no way that we can wire the money to them," Stern told this reporter in a phone interview. Atty. Michael P. Verna clarified in an email that “each family receives an amount to compensate for their own loss, and not all losses are the same, so not all cases settled for the same amount. The global figure of $165-M for the 110 beneficiary families is correct, but that does not mean each family gets $1.5-M just because it is the average amount." Verna added, “The 30 percent (attorney’s fee in contingency arrangement) is wrong as well. The court will decide the fee percentage for the US attorneys, and (the court) has not signed any award yet." Mr. Sterns explained that in the case of a fireman, who died in the crash and who left behind three children, the three minor beneficiaries will be getting more than $1.5-M because they depended on the income of their father. But in the case of a bachelor, who died in the crash but left no children, the beneficiaries, who are 10 second cousins will get far less than the fireman’s children because his 10 cousins did not “suffer financial loss" as a result of the bachelor’s death. The cousins never depended on the bachelor for financial support and they are likely to receive “six figures" benefit. But these cousins are much better off than 20 other survivors, who received immediately between $20,000 to $50,000 settlements offered by the Air Philippines, an airline owned and organized by business tycoon Lucio Tan, according to Mr. Sterns. Mr. Tan is also a majority stockholder of the Philippine Airlines, the Philippines’ flag carrier. The 110 survivors, however, opted to look for aviation disaster lawyers. Sterns said, “this is far and away the largest settlement ever made in favor of survivor families in an Asia-Pacific air crash. Up to now the closest one was the Singapore Air crash in Taiwan, where the company offered Asian families $400,000 per loved one lost, which was at the time a new record, and substantially above what had been paid before." He said “The London insurers' early evaluation of these Philippine cases was much, much less. So all can take pride in the fact that this settlement, which we have reached after eight years of hard work and litigation, not only sets a new standard, but also is a true reflection on the fact that the loss of a Philippine family is no less than someone anywhere else in the world." - GMANews.TV