Malaysia Airlines may be held liable to compensate the passengers who died in the Flight 17 crash in July even though the plane was shot down.
International agreements say there is a no-fault system for crash victims, meaning that regardless of whether the airline was at fault in the incident, it must pay those on-board ta standard compensation. A separate treaty, called the Montreal Convention, allows the airline to be sued for more than the standard compensation if it was careless, according to The Associated Press.
Technically, Russia or the pro-Russian rebels who shot down the flight are allegedly at fault - therefore making them the ones who should be held liable - but aviation lawyers tell AP it would be nearly impossible to collect damages from them.
Aviation lawyers are deeming the airline negligent, saying it should have stopped all flying over eastern Ukraine after military jets were shot down in the same area a few weeks before the crash, reports Daily Finance.
Malaysian officials explained to Daily Finance that the route was safe since it was flying 32,000 feet in the air.
Malaysia Airlines is making $50,000 standard compensation payments, reports AP, but some families are taking the airline to court for up to $174,000 in compensation.
