Association of families of Voepass crash victims takes legal action seeking compensation

After Cenipa (the Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Center) concluded that the Voepass aircraft that killed 62 people in 2024 should never have taken off, Leonardo Amarante, the attorney for the victims' families association, announced he will file a class action lawsuit for moral damages.

Speaking to Folha, Amarante said the association intends to combine the elements presented by the technical body of the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) on Thursday (23) with the results of the Federal Police investigation.

He reported having met with the delegate in charge of the accident inquiry approximately one month ago. On that occasion, he said he was informed that investigators expected to conclude their work by August. The defense is anticipating that those involved in the accident will be charged.

In addition to the lawsuit seeking reparations, the association's defense team intends to request standing as an assistant to the prosecution, should criminal charges be filed, "seeking the criminal accountability of those responsible" for the tragedy, the attorney said.

The Voepass accident occurred on August 9, 2024, when the aircraft operating flight 2283, carrying 58 passengers and four crew members, crashed in Vinhedo, in the interior of São Paulo state. All aboard perished. The aircraft was traveling from Cascavel, in Paraná state, to Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo.

Lieutenant Colonel Fróes, the lead investigator on the case, stated that the aircraft had ten items flagged on its minimum equipment list, one of which was an inoperative windshield wiper.

In order to fly with that malfunction, regulations required that no rain be forecast one hour before and one hour after the scheduled departure time, as well as at the destination or alternate landing site. However, meteorological conditions created an unfavorable environment.

The attorney for the Association of Families of Flight 2283 Victims said the Cenipa report "laid bare the entire chain of omissions and actions" that contributed to the accident. "The feeling we have is that [the accident] could have been prevented, had even minimal precautions been taken," he said.

He emphasized that the document is technical in nature and does not aim to identify who is to blame for the crash, but stated that the work "spared no one" and points toward the responsibility of each party involved.

According to Amarante, the targets of the class action lawsuit for moral damages are expected to include Anac (the National Civil Aviation Agency), ATR — the company responsible for manufacturing the aircraft that crashed in Vinhedo — Voepass itself, as well as any individuals who may be charged by the Federal Police.

"We need all the elements in place before filing the lawsuit. Today's report goes deep into Anac's accountability and the operational and regulatory failures that occurred," he said. "The idea is to name as many individuals and entities as possible as defendants who contributed [to the accident]," he added.

In a statement to the press, Anac said it will analyze the recommendations presented by Cenipa and will deliver, within 120 days, a technical assessment of the findings that fall within its purview.

"The investigations conducted by Cenipa are exclusively preventive in nature and are not intended to assign blame or establish legal responsibility, but rather to identify factors that contributed to the accident and to make recommendations to improve the operational safety system of civil aviation," the statement reads.

Luiz Soper, brother of Debora Soper Avila, 29, one of the flight attendants who died in the crash, told Folha that the air accident was an "announced tragedy" and that the Cenipa report was enlightening in proving that. He said the families will continue seeking justice.

"It's been two years that we've been in agony," he said. "Nothing will bring these people back, nothing will improve the void that was left in the families, but we want justice. Now we're going to wait for the Federal Police's findings, we'll analyze the indictments that will probably be outlined there and we'll continue this fight for justice. May those identified as responsible be punished and serve their sentences."

The class action will seek compensation for damages caused to society by the accident, not individual impacts. A value for the claim has not yet been defined. The legal team representing the victims' families said they will calculate the tragedy's toll based on the social impact of the episode.

"For example, the airline routes that ceased to exist during that period of limbo, how many people stopped traveling and how much that harmed society. The association has already done some mapping, but we haven't reached a conclusion yet and it would be reckless to say. Since it is moral damages, we will set a value — 10, 15, 20 million — but it needs a technical basis," said the lawyer.

The money is expected to go to a fund controlled by the Public Prosecutor's Office or to programs aimed at improving aviation safety.

Some families, such as Luiz Soper's, have already received compensation from Voepass's insurer. According to him, the amount was negotiated with each relative and varied depending on factors such as whether the person was a breadwinner. Now, with the Cenipa report, Debora's brother said he hopes the class action will serve to improve national aviation safety.

"We want those responsible to be truly held accountable and punished, so that this serves as a lesson and other families do not have to go through this due to lack of oversight, lack of maintenance, negligence, greed or failures in the air safety system. This is one of our battles from this moment on."