In a fairly standard denial of responsibility in response to the first legal filing against them in U.S. District Court, Asiana Airlines has blamed all passengers on Flight 214 on July 6 for their own injuries. They are currently trying to track down all the surviving passengers on the flight to offer them lump sum payments of $10,000 apiece in the hope that they won't try to bring lawsuits.
The first lawsuit was brought by a Bay Area lawyer who says he's "incensed" by the response, even though another attorney who spoke with the Mercury-News said the filing by the airline was "standard stuff" and just part of the process.
The offers of $10,000 to each of the victims' families comes with eight conditions, none of which have been disclosed, but obviously one of them includes no threat of future lawsuits.
According to a treaty called the Montreal Convention, foreigners can not sue airlines in U.S. courts, and this is a shame for them since the majority of the passengers on the flight were from China and South Korea. U.S. citizens aboard the flight stand to net millions in court. Foreigners can still try to sue, and it would likely cost the airline more than $10,000 per suit defending themselves via the Montreal Convention.
The attorney who filed the first case, Michael Verna of Walnut Creek, represents several passengers whom he argues are exceptions to the Montreal Convention.
[Mercury-News]
[Fox News]
