US lawyers prepare for MH370 suits after waiting period ends

UNITED STATES — Yesterday (April 22) marked 46 days since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished over the southern Indian Ocean.

For the legal fraternity in the United States, it was officially Day 1.

According to CNN, the US enforces a 45-day rule for how long American lawyers have to wait before reaching out to a family that has lost a loved one in a plane crash.

With the waiting period over, American lawyers are now free to talk to the families and to start filing lawsuits in American courts against US aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

However, there is one snag: There is no plane wreckage, no debris, nothing. It is like a murder without a body.

Aviation lawyer Daniel Rose, a partner at the firm Kreindler & Kreindler, told CNN, “If we don’t have the black box with all the critical information on it, or we don’t have any part of the wreckage, it would be very hard to maintain a claim against Boeing in any court in the US.”

Despite the restrictions and the waiting period, one US-based case against Malaysia Airlines and Boeing is already in the works.

One law firm took the early initiative to go to Malaysia and China, holding a press conference and allowing families of the passengers approach them.

Aviation law specialist Ribbeck Law Chartered says it was approached initially by Mr Januari Siregar, an Indonesian whose son was onboard flight MH370.

The firm’s lawyer Monica Kelly filed a request for documents and other information in an Illinois court last month.

LAWSUITS OF LITTLE COMFORT

Although the lack of evidence means Boeing may be spared the lawsuits for now, the same can’t be said for Malaysia Airlines, CNN reported.

The Montreal Convention governs such matters, which means that under international law, the families of the passengers can sue the airline in the country where the passengers bought the ticket, where the airline is based or their final destination.

All this still means little for the families awaiting news of their loved ones.

In Beijing, the latest attempt to hold a high-level meeting with officials from the Malaysian government and the airline proved futile as the families of Chinese passengers demanded to be briefed by technical experts instead.

The relatives wept, begged and cursed a Malaysian diplomat at a briefing held at the Lido Hotel in Beijing.

“We don’t know at this point whether they are alive or dead. And you haven’t given us any direct proof of where they actually are. We want our loved ones back,” a father of a missing passenger cried.

According to CNN, relatives have drawn up 26 questions — many of them on technical issues — that they want addressed by Malaysian officials.

The questions include: What’s in the flight’s log book? Can they review the jet’s maintenance records? Can they listen to recordings of the Boeing 777 pilot’s conversations with air traffic controllers just before contact was lost?

The Malaysian diplomat who was in the firing line of vitriol from the relatives told CNN that it is hard to give families answers when they have so little information themselves about the March 8 flight that set off from Kuala Lumpur, destined for Beijing.

Because of the plane’s flight path, most of the lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines would be filed in China or Malaysia.

However, for the families of the three Americans who were onboard the Boeing 777, lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines can also be filed in US courts.

One aviation law specialist CNN spoke to believes that based on her experience, families could receive between US$400,000 (S$508,000) and US$3 million in damages.

She warned, however, that it could take at least two years before any payout takes place. MALAYSIAN INSIDER