One of Britain’s highest appellate courts handed a victory to Coral Gables aviation attorney Rollin M. Smith and other Florida lawyers on Monday, capping off a dispute that’s spanned more than a decade.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for select members of the British Commonwealth as well as former English territories, issued a ruling in favor of  Nassau-based Bahamasair on Oct. 8. The case in question concerned Bahamasair’s lawsuit against manufacturer Messier-Dowty over the collapse of a landing gear on a Bahamasair DHC-8-301, or “Dash 8″ aircraft, on April 20, 2007. No passengers died, but the airplane was completely demolished.