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On Jan. 21, Toronto law firm Himelfarb Proszanski announced the filing of a proposed class action against Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ukrainian airline concerning the downing of Flight PS752.
On Jan. 8, 2020, UIA Flight PS752 took off hours after the IRGC fired missiles and struck U.S. bases in Iraq. Minutes after takeoff, IRGC missiles struck Flight PS752, causing it to crash to the ground. There were no survivors.
The class action is on behalf of the passengers and the passengers’ families. The aircraft was carrying 176 people on board, including nine crew members, 15 children, 57 Canadian citizens; and 138 of the passengers were returning to Canada. New York-based litigation funding company Galactic Litigation Partners LLC has agreed, subject to court approval, to finance the class action.
Iran ultimately admitted its missile defence system shot down the plane after initially blaming technical or mechanical error. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated it was an “unforgiveable mistake”.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said “shooting down a civilian aircraft is horrific”, “Iran must take full responsibility” and “we expect Iran to compensate these families.” Ukrainian officials said that Iran should compensate the victims’ families.
At the time of the crash, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration banned civilian aircraft from flying over the region. After the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, many airlines respect FAA notices when making safety decisions. Several airlines, including Austrian Airlines, Air France, Air India, and KLM, rerouted their flights. Other airlines such as Emirates, Lufthansa, Flydubai and Turkish Airlines cancelled flights to airports in Iran and Iraq.
Flight PS752 departed despite the known risks.
