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Pensioner leading DVT fight with airlines - 29/08/02
Manchester News
A BURY pensioner is bringing the first law suit against an airline after
suffering deep vein thrombosis.
If she is successful, her case will open the floodgates to thousands of similar claims.
Brenda Payne, of Taylor Street, Bury, is among 38 cases being put forward. Another 500 cases will follow shortly, leaving the airline industry open to claims running into millions of pounds.
Mrs Payne took four flights from Manchester to Amsterdam, and Bangkok after winning a magazine competition.
But she suffered symptoms associated with DVT which include pain in the legs, swellings, rapid heart-beat. In some case the condition can be fatal. Five of the cases going before the High Court in November involve the family of passengers who died from DVT.
Mrs Payne's solicitor, Desmond Collins, said he has 500 other people waiting to bring cases if the first batch are successful. The first hearing will decide if the cases can be brought under the Warsaw Convention which governs air travel and then each case will be heard on its merits. Mrs Payne is suing for around £15,000.
Mr Collins said: "This will be the first case of its kind in the world and if we are successful it will open the floodgates.
"We are confident that the law is with us on this one and we are at the cutting edge but it is a part of law that has not been tested before and it will be a difficult case.
"The industry is not providing adequate warnings at the right point in time and some airlines are not doing it at all."
Mr Desmond says the airlines should be providing warnings of the dangers of DVT when passengers book their flights and it is too late to inform them once they are already on the plane or even in the air. |
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