Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1936

Liability of carrier in the event of the death of a passenger.

18.—Any liability imposed by Article 17 of the First Schedule to this Act on a carrier in respect of the death of a passenger shall be in substitution for any liability of the carrier in respect of the death of that passenger under any statute or at common law, and the following provisions shall have effect with respect to the persons by and for whose benefit the liability so imposed is enforceable and with respect to the manner in which it may be enforced, that is to say:—

(a) the liability shall be enforceable for the benefit of such members of the passenger's family as sustained damages by reason of his death;

(b) for the purposes of paragraph (a) of this section—

(i) the expression “member of a family” means wife or husband, parent, stepparent, grandparent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, child, stepchild, grandchild,

(ii) in deducing any relationship any illegitimate person shall be treated as being, or as having been the legitimate child of his mother and reputed father;

(c) an action to enforce the liability may be brought by the personal representative of the passenger or by any person for whose benefit the liability is under paragraph (a) of this section, enforceable, but only one action shall be brought in Saorstát Eireann in respect of the death of any one passenger and every such action by whomsoever brought shall be for the benefit of all such persons so entitled as either are resident in Saorstát Eireann or, not being resident there, express a desire to take the benefit of the action;

(d) the amount which may be recovered in any such action shall not exceed the actual and the prospective loss resulting from such death to the members of the passenger's family;

(e) subject to the provisions of paragraph (f) of this section, the amount recovered in any such action, after deducting any costs not recovered from the defendant, shall be divided between the persons entitled in such proportions as the judge before or by whom such action is tried shall determine and direct;

(f) the court before whom any such action is brought may at any stage of the proceedings make such order as appears to the court to be just and equitable in view of the provisions of the First Schedule to this Act limiting the liability of a carrier and of any proceedings which have been, or are likely to be, commenced outside Saorstát Eireann in respect of the death of the passenger in question.