Court rejects compensation claim after Germanwings crash

A German court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit from bereaved families of those who died in the crash of a Germanwings jet in the Alps more than six years ago.

The suit aimed to claim additional compensation for pain and suffering.

Judges at the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Hamm rejected the appeal lodged by several relatives who had demanded additional compensation of 30,000 euros from the Germanwings parent company Lufthansa.

With the ruling, the OLG judges upheld the judgement of the lower Essen Regional Court. They took the view at the hearing that the medical supervision of pilots was a sovereign task of the state.

In this respect, Lufthansa was not the right addressee for the claims for damages, which they also said were not sufficiently substantiated.

On March 24, 2015, the co-pilot deliberately steered the plane into a mountain in the French Alps, investigators concluded. All 150 passengers lost their lives. The co-pilot had previously suffered from depression.

The plaintiffs accused Lufthansa of negligence in the medical examinations and considered the compensation for pain and suffering paid so far to be insufficient.

If airline doctors had worked thoroughly, so the attorneys argued, a serious mental illness on the part of the co-pilot would have been recognized and his flying licence would have been withdrawn.

But the judges did not follow this line of reasoning on Tuesday. Rather, they spoke of "very clear reasoning" for the lower court's verdict.

They agreed that it is not the airline's parent company but federal authorities that have responsibility as the Federal Aviation Office (LBA) is responsible for checking pilots' airworthiness.

The judgement is not yet final. The Higher Regional Court did not allow an appeal, but the plaintiffs can file a complaint against this. Whether they will has not been decided.

The plaintiffs expressed their disappointment at how the trial had proceeded. They looked disillusioned and some appeared upset as they left the courthouse.

Aviation lawyer Elmar Giemulla said he considered the arguments of the Higher Regional Court to be just as wrong as those of the judges in Essen.