Mexican judge rules in favour of plaintiffs in 2018 Cuba plane crash that killed 112

Grieving relatives of passengers who perished in Cuba's worst aviation disaster wait for the identification of the bodies at the morgue in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, May 20, 2018. Officials say 110 people died when a charter passenger jet hired by Cuba's state-run airline, Cubana de Aviacion, crashed Friday in the rural outskirts of Havana. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican judge ruled that the plane involved in a 2018 crash in Cuba that killed 112 people suffered from severe maintenance failures and should never have flown, and ordered the owner to pay millions in damages to the families of the victims who sued.

According to court documents dated March 31 and seen Friday by The Associated Press, an independent expert determined the 2018 crash was an “institutional accident” caused by maintenance negligence. The expert’s report, which sided with the plaintiffs, described the pilots as a “final line of defense” who were tragically unable to prevent the low-altitude crash.

Based on these findings, the judge ordered Mexican charter Aerolíneas Damojh to pay US$1.5 million in damages to each of the families of the four Mexican crew members who filed the initial lawsuit. The company failed to appear at trial and was tried in absentia. The aircraft’s insurer was also named in the lawsuit but was ultimately cleared of any financial penalties.

The Boeing 737 went down in a field moments after departing Havana’s José Martí International Airport, marking one of Cuba’s deadliest aviation disasters in decades. Of the 113 people on board, only a Cuban woman survived. Most of the victims were Cubans.

A year after the accident, Cuba attributed the tragedy to crew error. In Mexico, authorities had already temporarily suspended Aerolíneas Damojh, and opened an investigation. When contacted by the AP about the state of the investigation, Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation did not respond.

Operating as Global Air, Damojh provided the Boeing 737 and the Mexican crew to the state carrier Cubana de Aviación through a lease agreement. This arrangement placed the aircraft in service despite a documented history of problems surrounding the company’s operations prior to the crash.

Samuel González, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, described the decision as a hard-won and “groundbreaking ruling for Mexico.” He said the court’s findings validate what the company’s own head of maintenance acknowledged on day one in Havana when he admitted to family members that the plane should never have been in the air.

“That plane flew over our heads for 10 years without maintenance,” González said. “It crashed in Cuba, but it could have happened anywhere.”

The AP was not immediately able to contact the airline representatives.

González noted that the airline appears to be filing for bankruptcy, adding, “If it’s a fraudulent bankruptcy, we will press charges for that as well.”

Beyond this initial lawsuit, González noted that a class-action civil suit representing all victims is underway. Simultaneously, a criminal complaint for homicide has been filed with Mexico’s Office of the Attorney General against the company and any other responsible parties.

According to González, the criminal investigation has stalled because Cuban authorities have not provided requested information. The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment on the status of the case.

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María Verza, The Associated Press