Germanwings Crash Victims' Families Sued Lufthansa Over its Failure to Discover Pilot's Mental Illness

The families of the Germanwings flight crash victims files a lawsuit against the airline's parent company, Deutsche Lufthansa AG following its pilot suicide crash. The suit has been filed in the U.S. district court in Arizona on Wednesday, the representing lawyer from its law firm announced.

Lufthansa's flight training school or also known as Airline Training Center Arizona Inc. is accused of negligence by 80 families of the victim passengers of the 2015 March plane crash. Reuters reported, the airline company fail to check pilot Andreas Lubitz's medical records. Lubitz's is the co-pilot of the plane, who committed suicide by crashing the plane into the French Alps.

The suit which was filed by the representing lawyers from Kreindler & Kreindler LLP for the families alleges, the flight training school allowed Lubitz to pursue his training, despite what they contend were multiple red flags in his medical records indicating a history of mental illness. 

According to BBC News, Lubitz flied the Airbus A320 bound from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany, locked himself alone inside the plane's cockpit, and intentionally crashed the plane directly into the Alps, killing 150 passengers and crew members on board. An investigation about Lubitz's mental health condition, and found out, weeks before the crash happened, Lubitz's doctor told him to go for a psychiatric consultation, however his employer was not informed.

The airline company said, they were unaware of Lubitz's severity of his condition, the Daily News reported. Marc S. Moller, a partner at Kreindler & Kreindler, said, "Lubitz's particular history of depression and mental instability made him a suicide time bomb." Lubitz began his training in Arizona in November 2010 and finished the following March.

The German flag carrier said it offered roughly $80,000in compensation to victims' families, however, the families rejected the offer, seeing it as "insulting" as many claims they suffer "profound emotional and economic loss." Investigators recommended tougher medical checks for pilots last month after uncovering new evidence of unreported concerns over Lubitz's mental state.

Tags

Germanwings, Families, Lufthansa Pilot School, Airline Training Center Arizona, Andreas Lubitz

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