Taking The Airlines To Court

A question about : Taking The Airlines To Court

I thought it might be useful to start a thread specifically with advice on how to manage the process of taking an airline to Court, and perhaps sharing airlines defences and such like.

I have found MCOL so far quite easy to use, and hope people aren't put off from claiming what is their's.

For those thinking about taking the airline to the small claims court, I found this link very helpful:

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

For those who want to use the European Small Claims Procedure (ESCP) - which is necessary for Ryannair and a few others based outside the UK - Dr. Watson has produced an excellent guide here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...&postcount=622

And for those interested in how legal action played out for me in reality, you can read my account - and see the documents I relied upon - here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...&postcount=426

AND

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...&postcount=427

Best answers:

• Most of the MCOL online form is very straightforward. The one thing that you want to think about is how to pitch the statement of your claim.
  Centipede suggested a useful template here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...&postcount=423
  My own statement read as follows:
  I am claiming compensation for myself, my
  wife and our three children under Article 7
  of EC 261/2004, pursuant to the Sturgeon
  judgment in the ECJ (Case C-402/07 of 19
  November 2009), which provides for Ђ600 per
  passenger to be paid in the following
  circumstances.
  These were that Monarch delayed our flight
  from Sharm el Sheikh to London Gatwick on
  08/04/12 and did not return us until
  09/04/12, a delay of some 24 hours.
  Despite writing to Monarch on four occasions
  since this event, most recently on 27 January
  with a final notice before action, they have
  declined to respond to my request for
  compensation.
  Short and sweet - but that's all it needs to be at this stage, I think.
• An excellent, self explanatory link, courtesy of Centipede:
  https://www.howtotakesomeonetocourt.i...s-process.html
• What I would like to know more about, is what happens if an airline doesn't return the paperwork, and you achieve a judgement by default.
  A poster in another thread has been told not to get baliffs involved, as the airlines can easily overturn the judgement!
  As per this post:
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...postcount=5948
• I now need to fill in the Court's "questionnaire", prior to formal allocation to the small claims track. Most of this is very straightforward, but one section allows me to ask questions of Monarch to support my action. As I'm new to this sport, I would would welcome advice from other more experienced MSE'ers on what I should ask.
  The background to my claim, and Monarch's defence, can be found here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...postcount=1180. But basically my flight from Sharm to Gatwick was delayed by over 24 hours when the previous flight (Gatwick to Sharm) was delayed due to the discovery of cracks in the windscreen.
  These are the questions I think I would ask of Monarch:-
  a) How old was the aircraft concerned, and when was the last time the windscreen was replaced?
  b) How many cracked windscreen incidents has the Monarch fleet experienced over the last 24 months?
  c) What facilities did Monarch have at Gatwick airport for dealing with this problem? (ie why did they appear to have none?)
  d) Can they provide witness evidence of exactly when the cracks were discovered? (the evidence in their defence statement is contradicted by someone on the flight, who says they never got to board the aircraft)
  e) How long did it take to fix the windscreen? Why exactly was the flight delayed by over 24 hours? Can we have a timelined account of action taken? (I understand that the delays were caused initially by the fact that Monarch having nothing at Gatwick to fix the cracks, and then by the crew being out of time)
  f)What efforts did Monarch make to provide a reserve aircraft/crew or to wet lease from another company? I would be grateful for evidence of who they approached, and why an alternative aircraft could not be provided (NB: I don't believe they approached anyone)
  g) What is Monarch's punctuality record for this route for 2011/12? (ie why do less than 65% of their flights leave on time)
  I think this is probably enough, but I would be grateful for thoughts - either here or via PN. Thanks!
• Excellent. I think you've got it spot on there. Knock-on effects are not ECs anyway, and that's been established, so I don't think you'll need to push very hard. But it's good to do so anyway.
  My only comment is that I would re-word some of the questions. I've done a few FOIs (never in a court questionnaire), and the key point there is always to be specific and to make sure it is info that can be gathered relatively easily. So, with that in mind, see below...
  Quote:
• Far be it from me to suggest Monarch might alter facts to suit the situation however SMART is one of the UK's leading aircraft response teams and I suspect they were responsible for the repairs to your a/c. They are 100% owned by Monarch Holdings Limited who also happen to own Monarch Airlines Limited.
• Okay - this is a slightly nerdy question. But do you know whether the Advocate General ever issued a legal opinion on Wallentin? I've read the opinions on Sturgeon - but can only find the Wallentin judgement.
  Mind you, there's enough good stuff in there (both on the circumstances in which technical defects can become extraordinary, and on what constitutes a reasonable effort by the airline) to demolish every airline defence/reply I've seen so far.
• Follow the Wallentin link in the FAQ's Vauban, and the narrative at the start goes:
  In Case C549/07,
  REFERENCE for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Handelsgericht Wien (Austria), made by decision of 30 October 2007, received at the Court on 11 December 2007, in the proceedings
  Friederike Wallentin-Hermann
  v
  Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane SpA,
  THE COURT (Fourth Chamber),
  composed of K. Lenaerts, President of the Chamber, T. von Danwitz, E. Juh!sz, G. Arestis and J. Malenovskэ (Rapporteur), Judges,
  Advocate General: E. Sharpston,
  Registrar: R. Grass,
  having regard to the written procedure,
  after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:
  - Mrs Wallentin-Hermann, by herself, Rechtsanwдltin,
  - Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane SpA, by O. Borodajkewycz, Rechtsanwalt,
  - the Austrian Government, by E. Riedl, acting as Agent,
  - the Greek Government, by S. Chala and D. Tsagkaraki, acting as Agents,
  - the Polish Government, by M. Dowgielewicz, acting as Agent,
  - the Portuguese Government, by L. Fernandes, acting as Agent,
  - the United Kingdom Government, by C. Gibbs, acting as Agent, and D. Beard, Barrister,
  - the Commission of the European Communities, by R. Vidal Puig and M. Vollkommer, acting as Agents,
  having decided, after hearing the Advocate General, to proceed to judgment without an Opinion,
  gives the following
  Judgment
  --------------------------------------------------------------------
  Which I take to mean that the AG told them to proceed to judgement without (his) opinion.
• "A Flock of Sheep" suggested we collate a list of those currently taking legal action against the airlines, including court dates, etc. I think this is a great idea, particularly as many of us seem now to have commenced legal action. If others agree, I'm happy to maintain this list in the first post, like Mark2Spark did for the Monarch flights.
  It doesn't need to be anything too fancy: the username, airline, stage of the proceedings/court date, and outcome, I think. Any thoughts?
  And could/should we make it a sticky? And if so, how?
• I am about to start a claim against Thomson. Which court would the case be heard at if it went all the way? would it be my local court or a court local to Thomson head office?
• I am bumping this back up.
  But this is also an opportunity to express slight frustration with the slowness of process.
  Having initiated MCOL, I submitted my allocation questionnaire at the end of March. I ticked the box for mediation, as one is generally advised to do. But I have heard nothing since. I range the Court last week, who confirmed that both sides' questionnaires had been received and that the papers had been transfered to the mediation service in mid-April. But they had no contact details of the service concerned, and couldn't advise my how long it would be before the people got it touch. A bit frustrating, to be honest.
  Anyhow, I've been working on my "particulars of claim" witness statement in the meantime, so it's not been time wasted I suppose.
• All done- thanks for the help - Claim has now been raised via MCOL... will wait and see!