BEIRUT (AFP)

Relatives of passengers killed in an Ethiopian Airlines crash in Lebanon earlier this year have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit in a U.S. court against plane-maker Boeing, their attorney said Tuesday.

"We have filed a lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois, against the Boeing company," Manuel von Ribbeck, of the U.S. firm Ribbeck law, told AFP.

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 went down minutes after taking off from Beirut in bad weather on January 25, killing 83 passengers and seven crew. The cause of the crash has not been announced.

" We have filed a lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois, against the Boeing company "
Manuel von Ribbeck, of the U.S. firm Ribbeck law

Ribbeck said initial analysis of data gathered so far showed a severe mechanical failure was probably behind the tragedy.

But Lebanese Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi has said data recovered from the black box showed all instruments were working well until the plane plunged into the Mediterranean in a fierce storm.

"Our aviation expert believes that simple pilot error could not have brought down the plane," Ribbeck said.

"It had to be a severe mechanical failure which could be caused by a design or manufacturing defect or a maintenance problem," he added.

Lebanese officials have ruled out sabotage as the likely cause of the crash, but Ethiopian Airlines has said it is looking into all possibilities, including foul play.

Ribbeck and two other attorneys from his firm as well as an aviation expert are currently in Beirut meeting with victims' families.

Ribbeck said his firm had met with at least 30 families in Beirut and would be representing many of them. Another team of attorneys from the firm was also meeting with families in Ethiopia, he added.

He slammed as insufficient the reported 20,000 dollars in compensation per passenger currently being offered by the airline's insurance companies and said he would be seeking upwards of a million dollars for each victim represented by his firm.

"There is no reason why the same insurance companies pay 10 times more elsewhere than what they are offering in Lebanon," he said.

"There is no reason why a Lebanese is worth less."

He said the legal case would likely settle quickly if families are given proper compensation but could drag on for at least two years if a trial is held.

Ribbeck added that Boeing had been very cooperative in similar cases his firm had handled in the past.

Officials at Boeing in Chicago, where the U.S. aviation giant is headquartered, declined comment on the lawsuit.

"Boeing extends its deep condolences to the families and friends of those lost in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 in Lebanon," company spokesman Fakher Daghestani told AFP in a statement.

Source: Al-Arabiya


Lebanese plan to sue Boeing for Ethiopian crash

By BASSEM MROUE (AP) – 46 minutes ago

BEIRUT — Relatives of those killed aboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed into the Mediterranean off Lebanon in January are planning to file a multimillion dollar lawsuit against American plane manufacturer Boeing in a U.S. court, their lawyer said Tuesday.

The Boeing 737 crashed on Jan. 25, just minutes after takeoff from Beirut during a fierce thunderstorm. All 90 people on board died.

"We have filed, in Chicago, a petition for discovery which in this case was filed against the Boeing Corporation because it is the manufacturer of the plane," Monica Kelly of the Chicago-based firm Ribbeck Law told The Associated Press. "We have not filed any lawsuit yet."

"We have started this discovery process in Illinois," where Boeing is based, she said. "We will file a lawsuit as soon as we have enough permission from the documents that we are going to receive."

Her comments came a month after Lebanon's Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said the information from the data flight recorder indicates that the cause of the crash appeared to be neither a technical problem nor an explosion.

Kelly said that she and a colleague as well as a Canadian aviation expert have been in Beirut for two weeks where they met 30 relatives of the Lebanese victims. She added that they were also in contact with several Ethiopian relatives of plane victims.

Fifty-four Lebanese and 30 Ethiopians were killed in the crash.

The plane's cockpit voice recorder and date flight recorder are being analyzed in France by BEA, a French agency that specializes in assisting with technical investigations of air crashes.

Nothing official has been said so far about the cause of the crash.

A day after the crash, Aridi said the plane's pilot made a "fast and strange turn" minutes after takeoff from Beirut. He added then that the plane flew in the opposite direction from the path recommended by the control tower after taking off in stormy weather.

Kelly said they don't plan to wait for official reports because in most cases they take more than two years to be released.

Asked if they will file a multimillion dollar suit against Boeing if the cause of the crash turns out to be mechanical failure, Kelly said "yes, of course. We have always done that in prior crashes."

Also Tuesday, Prime Minister Saad Hariri received relatives of the victims who were briefed about efforts exerted by the state since the crash.

Source: AP