Private aviation

The law firm SOULEZ LARIVIERE AVOCATS handles cases relating to private, business and recreational aircraft, as well as paragliders.

Aurélia Grignon Capucine Lanta de Bérard Diane Floreancig
avion

The firm is regularly called upon to handle cases relating to accidents involving private, business or recreational aircraft. Although these cases attract less media attention than crashes involving commercial airliners, they nevertheless raise questions of liability concerning manufacturers, operators, cabin crew, air traffic controllers and pilots, in accordance with very specific provisions of aviation regulations.


The firm also advises companies in the aviation sector on preventative audits, aimed in particular at anticipating and identifying risks relating to criminal liability.

Examples:

  • Defence of a company and its director in a preliminary investigation into manslaughter following the fatal crash of a business aircraft carrying several of the company’s employees on a business trip.
  • Defence of several civil claimants following the fatal crash of a business aircraft in 2014, in connection with the criminal investigation in France and the trial that has been ongoing since 2016 before a foreign court.
  • Defence of an air traffic controller implicated in a fatal air crash involving a team of surgeons specialising in organ transplants, on the grounds that he had failed to verify the authenticity of the pilot’s IFR (instrument flight rules) qualification. The pilot, who was implicated in the investigation, did not possess the required qualifications and had presented a forged document, a fraud which had not been detected by the air traffic controller.
  • Defence of a victim of a helicopter accident that occurred during a leisure flight; the court recognised that the flight constituted a paid service, which automatically entitled the victim to compensation under the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions.
  • Advising an air transport company on the audit and overhaul of its safety management system, in accordance with applicable national and international regulations.
  • Advising a private aircraft owner (business aviation) in connection with pre-litigation proceedings following a ground collision that damaged the aircraft. An out-of-court settlement was reached with the insurer of the party at fault.
See key cases