Ottawa says it's close to serving plane-crash lawsuits on Iran, as rival class actions move ahead separately
Two class-action lawsuits with starkly different approaches to winning compensation for January’s Iran plane crash seem likely to advance in competition with each other, as court heard Wednesday that a key legal hurdle for both was close to being cleared.
One suit alleges Iran was simply negligent in firing two missiles at the Ukraine International Airlines flight, the other that the shoot-down was an act of terrorism.
A federal lawyer revealed that Ottawa hopes to serve Iranian officials with the rival claims by the end of September, after months of delay in carrying out the task.
Neither action can proceed until the court receives a “certificate of service” from the federal government showing it has given the documents to Iranian officials, as it’s legally required to do.
Global Affairs Canada has been silent until now about what actions, if any, it had taken on that front.
But Justice Department lawyer Jacqueline Dais-Visca provided an update to a brief court hearing Wednesday, saying the pandemic and the lack of diplomatic ties with Tehran have created roadblocks.
“Canada’s efforts are being coordinated with other (go-between) countries,” she said on the teleconference call. “As you can imagine, that has been complicated by the circumstances related to COVID-19, which has disrupted channels of communication and strained diplomatic and consular resources in Canada and abroad.”
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The plan to serve the documents on Iran by the end of September is “a very positive development against that backdrop,” she said.
Two Iranian air-defence missiles brought down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 on Jan. 8, killing 176 people in what was a largely Canadian tragedy. All but 38 of the passengers and crew were on their way here, including 55 citizens, 30 permanent residents and numerous students from Iran.
Countries who had citizens on board the doomed plane have formed a group to press Tehran for compensation for victims’ families.
The two class action suits are for now proceeding independently of that effort, with no indication they will join forces with each other.
One, headed by lawyer Mark Arnold , is based on the widely held view that foreign nations are immune from civil suits in Canada alleging negligence. Instead, it cites the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which lists Iran as a state sponsor of terror.
The plane was either shot down as a deliberate act of terrorism, or Iran acted in a reckless, wanton and high-handed manner that amounted to a terrorist act, the suit argues.
But Tom Arndt, who’s spearheading the other class action , said in an interview Wednesday the question of whether Iran would be immune from a negligence suit is unresolved.
He said he wanted to work collaboratively with Canadian officials negotiating compensation from Iran, and feels his negligence claim stands a better chance of getting results.
“Our tack I think is more respectful to the Iranian defendants,” said Arndt, who is also suing the airlines. “Mistakes were made. They themselves have said mistakes were made. Terrible consequences flowed from those mistakes, those actions. And so what we’re seeking is justice and compensation.”
He said he didn’t think the shoot-down was an act of terrorism and “to allege that, I don’t think moves this forward toward justice and compensation.”
While Arndt talks of obtaining compensation directly from Iran, Arnold said his case would, if necessary, seek to seize and sell Iranian assets worldwide.
Both lawyers said they would support a fair compensation deal negotiated by the allied countries separate from the lawsuits, but Arnold said he’s skeptical about the Ukrainian-led government initiative.
He previously handled a lawsuit against Iran over Middle East terrorist acts it allegedly sponsored.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence in the diplomatic approach,” said Arnold. “I know from past experience that Iran can be a very, very difficult diplomatic adversary to negotiate with.”
• Email: tblackwell@postmedia.com | Twitter: tomblackwellNP