Families of DVT victims cannot sue in UK courts

British families of victims of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) were told yesterday that they could not bring claims for compensation against international airlines in the UK courts.

The High Court ruling was delivered in London hours after judges in Australia decided a similar legal action in favour of survivors and victims of what has become known as "economy class syndrome".

The two judgments left air passengers confused yesterday with the British claimants vowing to take their case to the Court of Appeal.

The 56 British survivors of DVT and relatives of those who died are seeking damages from 27 carriers that allegedly did not warn them of the dangers of the disease, which has been linked to long-haul flights.

Mr Justice Nelson, sitting in London, gave his decision on the contested preliminary issue of whether DVT could be an accident under the terms of the 1929 Warsaw Convention.

Lawyers advising on the test case argued that these claims were a fraction of the total number, saying hundreds of others were waiting for the result of the case.

They said airlines knew the risks but continued to pack in the passengers and that the 1929 Warsaw Convention had been drafted "in the age of the biplane" and had no relevance to the "age of the jumbo jet".

The judge's ruling blocks all the English DVT claims, but he recognised the importance of the case by granting the 56 claimants leave to appeal.

Earlier, the Victoria State Supreme Court rejected a claim by Qantas and British Airways that a clot suffered by a man from Sydney who had been on their flights should not be classed as an accident.

That ruling, by Justice Bernard Bongiorno, means that the case will probably go to trial late next year. Daniel Marks, an expert in personal injury law at the London law firm Finers Stephens Innocent, said that the two conflicting decisions made it confusing for passengers who flew between the two countries and beyond. "What happens if you buy your ticket in Australia at a British Airways office and then fly to Hong Kong? Can you claim under the convention for DVT?"

Russell Levy, head of clinical negligence at Leigh Day & Co, said it was time to review the rules surrounding compensation for injuries sustained during air travel.

Ruth Christofferson, whose daughter, Emma, died two years ago of DVT, said she would never give up seeking justice. "The airlines have hidden and will continue to hide behind the Warsaw Convention. I suppose the law is the law and they had the law on their side to protect them. What did Emma have to protect her? Nothing, and air travellers will still have no protection."

A British Airways spokesman said: "We are pleased the High Court has recognised that such legal action is unfounded under the Warsaw Convention. British Airways sympathises with all victims of DVT but since the World Health Organisation and the House of Lords agree there is no evidence of a specific link between flying and DVT, any future claims will continue to be resisted."

In the judgment, Mr Justice Nelson said the claimants failed to prove DVT was an "accident". "It reveals that no event or happening occurred on the flight which was not ordinary and unremarkable and involved no actions of anyone save for the passenger's reaction to that normal and unremarkable flight," he said.