The High Court has ordered a modular trial in a personal injuries action brought by Helen Forde against Emirates, so that evidence can be heard on whether her alleged fall aboard an international flight was an “accident” under the Montreal Convention.
In a ruling delivered on 22 April 2021, Mr Justice Mark Heslin granted the airline’s application for a modular trial. The module will address the factual circumstances of the alleged fall on or about 25 February 2017 aboard flight EK 164, and whether those circumstances meet the Convention’s definition of an accident.
The court did not decide whether an accident occurred, whether Emirates was liable, or what injuries or losses were caused. It also did not grant the airline’s alternative request to try a preliminary issue of law based on the facts pleaded so far. The judge said more detailed evidence was needed to determine the accident question fairly.
Forde’s claim alleges that, while disembarking, her leg became entangled in wired headphones left in her path, causing her to trip and fall against an armrest and onto the cabin floor. Her replies to particulars said she did not know where the headphones came from and could not be sure whether they were plugged into an aisle-seat jack. Emirates denied that the alleged circumstances constituted an accident within Article 17 of the Convention and denied liability.
The judge said the Convention’s application to the claim raised a distinct and significant issue. He referred to earlier decisions addressing whether falls or contact with objects on aircraft floors amounted to an accident, while stressing that he was making no finding on how the present incident should be classified.
The airline was prepared, for the purpose of its application, to accept the pleaded and affidavit evidence about the incident. The judge nevertheless considered the plaintiff’s solicitor’s submission that fuller facts were needed. He concluded that hearing evidence about the incident in a separate module was the more cautious and just course, with a prospect of saving time and costs by separating liability issues from the substantial injury and damages evidence.
The ruling records that Forde claimed the incident had seriously affected her confidence and ability to care for herself, and that she had moved into long-term residential care. Her particulars sought nursing-home fees of €53,046.65 for 2018 and €20,478.62 for 2017. Those are pleaded claims, not findings or awards. The court’s order concerned the trial structure only; the underlying claim and the accident question remained to be determined.