Plane Crash and Compensation in the Balance of Ethics and Law;A Critique of Judgment Rendered by Chamber 180 of Tehran’s Public Civil Court at Shahid Mottahari Judicial Complex

Sadeghi, Milad

doi:10.22034/analysis.2026.2082961.1181

Plane Crash and Compensation in the Balance of Ethics and Law;A Critique of Judgment Rendered by Chamber 180 of Tehran’s Public Civil Court at Shahid Mottahari Judicial Complex

Document Type : A critique of the civil court's judgment

Author

Milad Sadeghi

Holder of PhD in International Trade and Investment Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran

10.22034/analysis.2026.2082961.1181

Abstract

Throughout the history of Iranian aviation and subsequent to the occurrence of some plane crash, we have witnessed a number of enactments regarding the manner of compensation of damage incurred as result of such accidents. These regulations sometimes have a specific realm and scope and have been enacted exclusively in relation to a specific plane crash, but sometimes, while referring to the extension of their provisions to the past and a specific plane crash, also have an effect on the future and have governed future accidents. Among these accidents one may refer to the crash of Flight No. 291 of the Airlines of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Jan. 21, 1980The subject of the present article is a critique of a new court ruling regarding the demand for blood money resulting from the aforementioned accident. Although the limits of that company's liability in this accident have been explicitly addressed in the "Legal Bill on Determining the Limits of Liability of the National Iranian Airlines in Domestic Flights" (passed on March 12, 1980), recently, Branch 180 of the Public Civil Court of the Shahid Motahari Judicial Complex in Tehran, in addition to issuing a judgment against the Islamic Republic of Iran Airlines, has also issued a ruling to oblige the Civil Aviation Organization to pay the deceased passenger's blood money in proportion to the plaintiff's share.The judgment of this branch has been confirmed at a higher level by Branch 56 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal.Although the decision to pay blood money, which has remained unpaid after several decades, seems morally justified and compatible with what is understood from the principle of non-discrimination, due to legal standards, the conviction of both the air carrier and the Civil Aviation Organization as an executive, supervisory, and regulatory body of the national aviation industry in this case, is questionable in terms of his principles and ramifications.

Keywords

flight No. 291

fault

governing law

Civil Aviation Organization

liability

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