Final deadline for crash claims against Swissair

Families of the victims of Swissair flight 111, which crashed off the coast of Canada two years ago, have until midnight on Saturday to file final compensation claims.

Swissair said earlier this week that 184 claims had been filed so far and that it expected more.

The final deadline for claims – September 2 – is exactly two years to the day that the Geneva-bound Boeing MD-11 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 229 passengers and crew on board.

The deadline comes just two days after a judge in Philadelphia refused to reveal whether the European families of the victims would be allowed to file their claims against Swissair in the US courts.

Judge James Gilles said he would not make his ruling public because he wanted to give the two sides more time to reach a settlement. He said he also wanted to avoid influencing the families’ decisions to file their claims in Europe or the US.

On Friday, European relatives of the victims filed claims in Geneva in case the judge decides that the US courts cannot handle their case.

The stakes are high because US courts tend to be more generous than their European counterparts when awarding damages. US courts also commonly award “punitive damages” in addition to compensation.

Swissair and the aircraft’s manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas-Boeing, have both admitted responsibility, and offered last year to settle all 229 cases, provided punitive damages were not pursued.

Swissair argued that the US courts should only rule on claims filed by American families and that the Swiss courts should handle Swiss claims.

So far, 73 cases have been settled out of court – 59 with relatives of passengers and 14 with the families of crew members. The sums involved have not been disclosed.

Swissair has also made 161 advance compensation payments of SFr195,000 ($112,000) each.

Canadian investigators said on Tuesday they had succeeded in reconstructing the front of the MD-11 jet, but would need another year to complete their study of the crash.

swissinfo with agencies