The High Court has reserved judgment on an application by Shannon Aerospace to overturn an order directing its records custodian to give evidence on commission here, in the context of US court actions over an air crash in Florida.
Mr Justice McCracken was told that Shannon Aerospace is not a party to the legal actions, taken by relatives of the 110 dead, against US carrier ValuJet Airlines based in Atlanta, and other defendants, including SabreTech Incorporated, a US maintenance company.
A ValuJet twin engine DC9 craft, Flight 592, crashed in the Florida Everglades on May 11th, 1996, killing all on board.
In the US proceedings, it is claimed that when ValuJet aircraft were being serviced by SabreTech, expired oxygen generators were installed aboard Flight 592, and that they ignited, causing the crash.
On February 1st last, SabreTech secured an Irish High Court order that the records custodian of Shannon appear for examination, and bring documents.
SabreTech claims the custodian's evidence would "educate" the parties to the US action on how Shannon performed the task of removing, replacing, storing and disposing of oxygen generators. Shannon claims the US company is in reality seeking discovery of documents.
Submissions in the matter concluded yesterday and Mr Justice McCracken reserved judgment.