65 families hire US firm in Air India crash case

India Today

Sixty-five families of the Air India crash victims have hired Beasley Allen, the same American law firm that previously sued Boeing over the 2018 Lion Air and 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crashes, securing $2.5 billion in compensation.

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00:0065 families of the Air India crash victims have hired the same law firm that previously

00:03sued Boeing and won over Rs 20,000 crore in compensation for victims' families.

00:08The American law firm Beazley Allen rose to prominence after handling two major Boeing

00:12737 MAX crash cases, the Lion Air crash in 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines crash in 2019,

00:18which together claimed 346 lives.

00:20Boeing initially downplayed concerns about the aircraft's faulty MCAS system in both

00:24aircraft and blamed pilot error.

00:26However, mounting evidence in global grounding of the fleet forced the company to admit

00:29design flaws, eventually leading to settlements worth $2.5 billion for the victims' families.

00:34The firm also challenged the AAIB's interim report on the Air India crash, which pointed

00:38to possible pilot error, arguing that the flight data recorder logs electrical changes, not

00:43manual switch movements, indicating a computer-triggered fault may have caused both engine fuel switches

00:47to send a cut-off signal.

00:49Under the legal agreement, the 65 families represented by the firm will pay no fees unless compensation

00:53is secured.

00:54So far, the Tata Group, which owns Air India, has offered ex-gratia payments of Rs 1 crore

00:59to families of deceased passengers and Rs 25 lakh to ground victims.

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