Sarah Bolt

Full Profile

Sarah manages a caseload for several major airlines and their respective insurers in defending personal injury, baggage and cargo claims. She has experience with litigation in a number of international jurisdictions with a focus on Africa and the Middle East. Sarah has particular interest in medicine and more complicated personal injury claims. 

Sarah has notable court experience for her qualification years and has assisted on a number of complex personal injury matters involving English litigation in the High Court with one case of suspected serious fraud on the part of the Claimant, and one £12 million claim which was successfully defended at trial.

She studied at the University of Southampton and graduated with a first class degree in law. Sarah completed her training contract with the firm before qualifying into the aviation practice group in 2017. 

Experience

• Handling a major loss involving the death of 19 passengers and two flight crew, and 22 surviving passengers and 2 crew members, including immediate crisis management working alongside the carrier / reinsurers and thereafter advising with respect to settlement of passenger and next of kin claims.  
• Advising and presenting on developments in the law with expertise on the claims handling in the context of the Montreal Convention 1999 and recent CJEU jurisprudence on Article 17. 
• Advising on a major loss involving the death of 158 passengers and crew.
• Advising on a successful subrogated recovery action in Ethiopia with a US$8million recovered for a market of 35 reinsurers.
• Advising on an incident involving injuries to multiple disabled passengers following the collapse of a passenger assistance lift.
• Drafting complex multi-party hull release documentation in relation to aircraft damage incidents and advising on subrogation merits. 
• Presented at claims reviews in Kenya, India and Bahrain.
• Drafted contractual terms for a UK based aerodrome in relation to a third-party air show.
• Representing an aircraft owner in respect of a fatal accident involving the pilot and a minor passenger.
• Defending a UK carrier in relation to a complex personal injury claim with proceedings in the High Court.
• Handling third party damage claims within aviation sphere, e.g. damage to aircraft and other airside vehicles/equipment arising from ground handling mishaps.
• Defending helicopter operator in respect of high value personal injury claim.