US aviation legal experts have warned Chinese survivors of crash-landed Asiana Flight

US aviation legal experts have warned Chinese survivors of crash-landed Asiana Flight 214 not to sign away any of their rights in accepting the initial $10,000 per person compensation being offered by the airline.

“We have conferred with Asiana’s counsel in Los Angeles and can confirm they intend to offer all victims an advance of $10,000,” said Brian Alexander, a partner at Kreindler & Kreindler.

Kreindler has been retained by the families of the three Chinese girls who died, as well as some other foreign passengers.

The firm has also initiated a dialogue with Asiana’s attorneys, which it hopes will lead to various other unspecified accommodations for victims of the crash.

One of the three teenage victims was killed when she was run over by a fire truck responding to the accident and another died from her injuries a few days later in a local hospital.

Article 28 of the Montreal Convention allows airlines to make “advance payments” without delay to persons entitled to make claims “in order to meet the immediate economic needs of such persons”, he said. “Such advance payments shall not constitute a recognition of liability.”

While Asiana’s nominal initial payment is a step in the right direction, it is not enough, and fails to take into consideration the immediate economic needs of each individual passenger or their families, he said.

He noted Asiana’s comment that they may pay more after the NTSB completes its investigation is not a justification to delay economic needs payments. The NTSB may not complete its investigation for 12 months or more, while these passengers and families have to wait, pay medical bills and expenses, and try to survive on $10,000, Hedrick argued.

As Asiana will be strictly liable for all recoverable damages unless it can prove that it bears no fault for the accident – a very unlikely scenario based on the facts known to date – Asiana is not justified in withholding economic needs payments, which should be calculated fairly for each passenger, he said.

Source www.chinadailyusa.com