Family members of the victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are filing an RM4.95 billion suit against Boeing and Malaysia Airlines in the United States of America.
Ribbeck Law Chartered, a Chicago based firm, who are acting for the family members have started proceedings by filing a petition of discovery in an Illinois court.
Lead lawyer from Ribbeck Law, Monica Kelly, said the firm which specialises in aviation law were approached by family members from China and Indonesia.
Of the 239 people onboard MH370, 154 were China nationals, 49 Malaysians, and seven Indonesians.
Kelly said they had spoken to family members in many countries and expected about half of them to take part in the suit. She added that the fact that neither the wreckage of MH370 nor the bodies of the passengers had been found would not affect the case, as they would be inspecting the rest of the MAS fleet for similar design flaws.
“We’ve had successful cases where the plane, the victims or even the black box were not found,” said Kelly, during a briefing with the press here.
Manuel Von Ribbeck, of Ribbeck Law, said they were 100% confident of winning the suit.
He explained that was because in the eyes of the law, passengers are never at fault, and it was merely a matter of ensuring the family were compensated fully. Ribbeck added that the coverage for compensation was about US$1.5bil (RM4.95bil), and the firm would demand the full amount to be paid.
For the purpose of the suit, the firm is assuming the passengers are all deceased, based on the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s announcement.
“We hope that miracles can happen. But based on the data we’ve seen so far, it does not look good for the flight and her passengers,” said Ribbeck.
