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Court awards $71M to plane crash survivor
– defendants move to appeal decision
Close to five years after he filed civil proceedings against his former employer to recover millions worth in damages, plane crash survivor, Troy Daniels is still hoping to secure the $71 M judgment, he won last May.
Last May, the High Court Justice Sandra Kurtzious ordered that Daniels be paid a whopping $71, 440,000.
In March of 2014, Daniels, was among a group of miners, who were on plane bound for an interior location when it crashed on the side of a mountain at Arau, Region Seven.
Although Daniels and his colleagues survived the crash, they were left hospitalised and nursing several injuries.
The father of three from Bachelor’s Adventure, East Coast Demerara suffered a dislocated femur, a dislocated right hip and injuries to the lower spine and was left unconscious for some time.
The crashed Piper Cherokee N87619 aircraft
Troy Daniels at the GPHC, following the accident.
Daniels recalled that when he regained consciousness, he found himself strapped to the bed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, (GPHC) with steel inserted in both legs and his hip. He was in severe pain.
And even after he was released from the hospital, Daniels reported that his mobility was affected because of the near death experience.
Since then, he has not been able to secure adequate employment. The injured man therefore moved to the court to challenge his former employer, Bernard Singh.
Singh was the pilot of the Piper Cherokee N87619 aircraft when it went down.
When the incident occurred, the businessman was reportedly transporting Daniels, and his colleagues Leon Bristol, and Ivor Williams, to Ekereku Village, Region Seven where he (Singh) owns a dredge operation.
During the High Court proceedings, Daniels was represented by Attorney-at-law Ronald Burch-Smith, while Cameron and Shepherd, Attorney-at-law, Hari Narayen Ramkarran, represented the London-based company, Walton and Morse, which insured the plane.
Following some two years of hearings, Justice Kurtzious ruled in favour of the applicant (Daniels) ordering that he be paid the sum of $71, 440,000 for damages he suffered.
However, Singh and his attorneys are hoping that the Appeal Court would overturn the judgment.
The parties have since filed proceedings to stay the judgment of the High Court until the hearing and determination of a substantive appeal case.
But a date to hear the application to stay the High Court judgment is yet to be determined by the Appeal Court. The Court is currently in recess.
As such, Daniels and his attorney, (Burch-Smith) have moved to secure the $71 M judgment.
The affected party has filed a judgment summons, which is scheduled to be heard by Justice Franklyn Holder, this Thursday.
Last August, Attorney Burch-Smith outlined the risks of failure in a letter to lawyers representing the other side — Singh and his insurance company, Hand-in-Hand Trust.
In the letter, he noted that the proceedings could result in seizure of the businessman’s asset by the Court, owing to a failure to pay the sum outlined in the judgment.
The letter added that Singh could also face imprisonment for failing to carry out the court order.
Burch-Smith noted that in the course of the hearing of the judgment summons, Justice Holder made certain observations concerning Mr. Singh’s insurer’s intentions.
“I undertook to raise with you the matter of whether Hand-in-Hand intends to make any offer for part payment, pending the appeal.
Among other things, the lawyer highlighted the silence and inaction some three months after the decision exposes Mr. Singh to the risk of a petition for insolvency and the appointment of the Official Receiver to take over his financial affairs including his mining business and property.
“The Official Receiver may well regard her authority to include not only the claim for compensation, costs and interests, but in the realization of Mr. Singh’s assets under the Insolvency Act, consider a claim for breach of the duty of utmost good faith by his insurers,” the Attorney said in the letter.
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