Families of Germanwings' victims are continuously seeking to fight justice for their loved ones, who died in the fatal suicide flight. On Wednesday, the immediate families of the Germanwings' victims have filed a lawsuit against the US Flight School, where Andreas Lubitz was trained, alleging the school negligence in properly screening the pilot.
The Airline Training Center of Arizona owned by Lufthansa was sued by the families of Germanwings' victims in the U.S. District Court in Phoenix. Lufthansa is the parent company of Germanwings that employed the suicidal co-pilot Lubitz. The suit alleged that if the flight school properly screened Lubitz, they could have discovered that he was treated for severe depression, and he was on medication. The accident could have been prevented if they screened the co-pilot's medical history, according to KALB.
"Lubitz's particular history of depression and mental instability made him a suicide time bomb, triggered to go off under the ordinary stresses of life, particularly the kind of stresses a commercial pilot routinely faces," said attorney Marc S Moller of the New York law firm Kreindler & Kreindler, which represents the families. It is well known that cases of depression frequently recur, although when they will recur is unpredictable, he said.
Lubitz voluntarily locked the cockpit of the Germanwings Flight 9525 and collided the plane in the French Alps. All of the 150 passengers and staff of the Germanwings plane died in the crash including Lubitz. The Guardian reported that Lubitz' training in Lufthansa in Europe was interrupted while he sought treatment for his depression for 10 months. He went to the U.S. for flight training after his treatment and medication. In 2009, he was given a medical certificate by the German authorities with a condition that the permit would be invalid if his depression would relapsed.
"Andreas Lubitz, the suicidal pilot, should never have been allowed to enter" the training program at Airline Training Center Arizona, Inc. (ATCA), said Brian Alexander, an attorney who filed the suit in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona.
Last year, the families of the Germanwings' flight asked for a compensation over the death of their family members. However, they found the offer "insulting." The families were allegedly seeking to file a case in the U.S. where it gives higher compensation than in Europe, BBC claims. It is uncertain whether the case could pursue in the U.S. because the Germanwings crash doesn't involve an American airline.
Reps for Lufthansa said that there's "no chance of success" for the new lawsuit filed against the US Flight School. The suit is reportedly not asking for a particular amount of compensation, but is asking for the "just" compensation that the families of the Germanwings' victims deserve for their loss.
