Malaysia Airlines and Air Force Excluded from MH370 Lawsuit

28th Nov 2017

A five-person Federal Court panel has decided to exclude Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) from the lawsuit presented by the families of three passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared on 8^th March, 2014.

The panel, which included Court of Appeal President Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and Federal Court Justices Ahmad Maarop, Zaharah Ibrahim and Balia Yusof Wahi, dismissed an appeal by the next-of-kin to reinstate the airline and the air force as defendants in their lawsuit.

The Malaysian Civil Aviation Department will, however, remain in the lawsuit as the Federal Court panel declined to dismiss it from the suit as well. The case will also continue against the Malaysian Government and Malaysia Airlines Systems Bhd (MAS), Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) predecessor.

MAB has 30 similar cases filed against it and has settled in 18 already. The airline’s lawyers said to the media outside the Federal Court that they expect MAB and the RMAF to be excluded from other suites filed by family members of the passengers of the missing MH370 as well.

The lawsuit was filed by parents of Ah Mengm Lai Chew Lai and Tan Hun Khong, mother of Hsiu Lang and Chuang Hung Chien and children of Tai Wei Hong and Tan Wei Jie. The plaintiffs claimed that MAS breached its contract after it failed to ensure that the Boeing 777-200ER that they were flying with was in good condition. According to them, this caused in the plane to become untraceable.

In addition, they also said that the Malaysian Civil Aviation Department didn’t take appropriate action when the contact with the aircraft was lost. The plaintiffs said that the DCA failed to regain contact or launch an immediate search and rescue operation.

Furthermore, the lawsuit also claimed that the Malaysian Air Force should have kept an eye on its radars in real time and had they taken the necessary action when the incident happened, they could have prevented the disappearance.

Their suit was filed on 28^th August, 2015.