Lawyer says US suit is planned over crash of German plane in French Alps
Rejecting offered compensation of approximately $83,000, families of at least some of the 150 people killed earlier this year when their Germanwings flight crashed in the French Alps are planning to file suit in the U.S.
Attorney Elmar Giemulla, who represents potential plaintiffs in the case, told Bild am Sonntag “We are preparing a lawsuit in the U.S. and see good chances for a place of jurisdiction there,” the Guardian reports.
He said he and his clients are working with New York’s Kreindler & Kreindler and expect the suit to focus on why Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, allowed co-pilot Andreas Lubitz in the cockpit. Giemulla didn’t explain what the basis for U.S. jurisdiction would be.
Investigators have said Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and intentionally crashed the plane, killing all aboard.
With the help of discovery provided for in U.S. litigation, the families hope to learn “how it was possible that a co-pilot with known mental health problems and a corresponding history was allowed to fly at all,” Giemulla told the German newspaper. He represents a total of 39 families, the Economic Times (sub. req.) reports.
Initial payments of 50,000 euros to families of those who died in the crash is to be augmented by another 25,000 euros, for those that accept the compensation offer from Lufthansa, Reuters reports. That amounts to nearly $83,000 in U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate.
Another 10,000 euros is to be paid by Lufthansa to each immediate relative, the Economic Times says.
Deutsche Welle also has a story.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Germanwings co-pilot’s browser showed research on suicide and cockpit door security”
ABAJournal.com: “Airline crash occurred in Europe, but attorneys are pondering possible US lawsuit”
