Over 80 families of victims from the Air India 171 crash, including both passengers and ground casualties, have retained the US law firm Beasley Allen to pursue legal recourse.
Media reports claimed that the firm’s Principal Attorney, Mike Andrews, said that applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act would soon be filed to obtain raw data related to the crash. These RTI filings will be directed at the entities currently in possession of the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) data.
Andrews, who concluded his second visit to Gujarat on Wednesday, reportedly confirmed that Beasley Allen would also make direct appeals to Air India and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) to access information sourced from the crash site.
He emphasised that the firm intends to reconstruct the incident and, should the data point to a design or manufacturing flaw, legal proceedings under the United States product liability law would be initiated. The aircraft had 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese citizens, and one Canadian on board.
According to Andrews, the applicability of US product liability law stems from the fact that Boeing, the manufacturer, is an American company. He underscored that critical decisions, engineering, paperwork, and witnesses—all originate from the United States, making it the appropriate jurisdiction to fix accountability. He reportedly said that if the cause is found to be a defect, then actions would be brought in US federal court on behalf of each family.
He also explained that the goal is to determine the cause—whether a design defect, manufacturing issue, pilot error, or a maintenance failure. He said that if the findings indicate issues specific to Air India, they should prompt corrective changes there. However, if systemic flaws in the aircraft design emerge—especially if these have been seen in earlier incidents—then immediate reforms would be necessary.
Andrews made it clear that he had no intention of interfering with the AAIB investigation, reports added. He said the firm would submit letters and RTI applications, either through the families or on their behalf, and would refrain from additional legal petitions unless absolutely necessary. He added that they were collaborating with local counsel to assess the scope and applicability of the RTI Act to various agencies.
Andrews attended a candlelight vigil with 25 to 30 families at the crash site on Tuesday, according to reports.
He said normalcy appeared to have been restored there. Traffic took its usual course. A woman said she was seeing the place for the first time since her husband died in the crash.
Saying that humankind must move forward, Andrews highlighted the unique nature of this case in his three-decade-long experience, pointing out that it involved a sole survivor and multiple ground fatalities. He met briefly with that survivor, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, at his home in Diu, clarifying that the meeting was not in a legal capacity. Vishwash’s brother Ajay died in the crash, and their family has not signed on with Beasley Allen.
Reports mentioned that he spoke about the unpredictability of aviation disasters. Some victims had been cooking, serving tea, or simply passing by on scooters at the time of the crash.
A Diu family, who lost a daughter in the tragedy, had tied rakhis on his wrist.
The scars are deep but now his sole focus is to uncover the truth without any preconceived thoughts, he insisted.
He mentioned he was driven instead by a desire to investigate what happened and whether anyone was accountable.
Lastly, regarding Beasley Allen’s legal terms, Andrews said the firm works on a contingency basis, with no upfront costs. If there is a financial recovery, a 30 per cent contingency fee would apply. He is next headed to the United Kingdom to meet additional families affected by the crash.
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