My loved one died in a Fort Lauderdale aviation accident caused by a mechanical defect in an older aircraft. What are my rights?

You may have the right to sue for substantial damages. Contact the team at The Levin Firm in Fort Lauderdale to learn more.

A federal law called the General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) limits the rights of victims of aviation accidents in certain cases involving older general aviation aircraft (those with seating for 20 or fewer passengers, not operated in regularly-scheduled passenger flights).

In a nutshell, GARA bars victims from suing an airplane manufacturer, or the manufacturer of any airplane part, for an aviation accident caused by a mechanical defect if the defective plane or plane part that caused the crash was more than 18 years old at the time of the accident.

However, even older aircraft routinely get upgraded with newer parts. So, you may have the ability to sue a manufacturer if one of those newer parts failed and caused the accident.

In addition, you may have the right to seek compensation from mechanics and other aviation service providers who worked on the aircraft, if they unreasonably failed to spot mechanical defects that made the plane dangerous to fly.