Attorney for Germanwings victims says compensation too low
German Transportation and Digital Infrastructure Minister Alexander Dobrindt, left, and Matthias von Randow, Executive Director of the German Aviation Association, right, address the media during a joint press conference in Berlin, Germany on June 30.
BERLIN » A German attorney representing some 30 families of victims of the March Germanwings plane crash says his clients are rejecting the airline’s initial compensation offer as far too low.
In an email, lawyer Elmar Giemulla said Saturday he had written Lufthansa, Germanwings’ parent company, to say their offer of 25,000 euros ($27,200) compensation for each victim covered by German law and payments of 10,000 euros ($10,830) each to victims’ immediate relatives "must be significantly raised."
He’s asking Lufthansa for a "lower six-figure sum" in each category and for the airline to broaden how it defines "immediate relative."
Prosecutors believe co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed the Airbus A320 into a French mountain on March 24, killing all 150 people on board the flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.
