How much is a life worth?

[surya kiran]

Relatives of westerners killed in MH370 crash to receive MILLIONS more in compensation than families of the plane's Asian passengers


The nationality of each passenger will make a staggering difference to the compensation payments made to the families of the 239 people killed in the crash of flight MH370, according to legal experts.

Public liability lawyers say the biggest disparity will be the difference between the payouts offered to the relatives of western passengers, compared to those from Asian countries.

American aviation crash attorney Floyd Wisner said passengers and crew from China, Malaysia and Indonesia would fare worse in their claims due to what they are calling a limited view of damages.

'They could evaluate these cases and say a Chinese life is (of) less value than an American life. That's unfair and that's going to cause problems,' he told CNBC.

A hysterical family member of a passenger aboard MH370 reacts to the news of her loved one's death

Devastated: Jayden Burrows, supported by his aunt Kaylene Mann, pictured during a press conference on Tuesday, are among Australian relatives of those who died on MH370

Under the multilateral Montreal Convention, relatives of air crash victims from signatory countries are entitled to about $US176,000 in damages without having to prove fault.

Further claims can then be made in any one of five places: the primary residence of the plaintiff, the destination of the flight, where the ticket was bought, where the carrier is domiciled or its main place of business.

But Mr Wisner warned any major disparity in payouts would lead to international uproar.

'I would be raising holy hell if I was a family member of a passenger from one country getting less than someone who happened to be sitting next to me from another country,' he said.

The actual article is quite long...summary is as below.

• Compensation lawyers expect huge disparity in the payouts to the families of those on board MH370
• The 'Montreal Convention' covers all passengers for $US176,000
• Families of victims can then seek further damages in their home country
• It means US families could get up to $10 million per passenger, while Australian relatives can seek uncapped damages
• But Chinese relatives could get as little as $1 million per passenger
• Lawyers cite varying legal systems as the reason for the massive differences in potential claims

HHow much is a life worth? Relatives of westerners killed in MH370 crash to receive MILLIONS more in compensation than families of the plane's Asian passengers as airline prepares for $750 million in claims | Mail Online

 

[Developereo]

No cause or culpability has been established yet and the vultures (lawyers) are already out.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

This may not necessarily be true.

The crazy lawsuits usually are based on the current salary of the person. So if you were making $100K a year and you were 30 years old and you expected this person to work for say another 35 years. That means the family suffered a potential loss of income of at least $100K * 35. There were only 3 Americans on the plane.

There must have been multiple Chinese businesspeople on that plane who were successful.
This isn't 30 years ago. I'm sure they will be compensated far more. I'm sure the Chinese courts will be just as sympathetic. if they aren't well I'm sure the Chinese people will be outraged at their court system.

 

[Jlaw]

This may not necessarily be true.

The crazy lawsuits usually are based on the current salary of the person. So if you were making $100K a year and you were 30 years old and you expected this person to work for say another 35 years. That means the family suffered a potential loss of income of at least $100K * 35. There were only 3 Americans on the plane.

There must have been multiple Chinese businesspeople on that plane who were successful.
This isn't 30 years ago. I'm sure they will be compensated far more. I'm sure the Chinese courts will be just as sympathetic. if they aren't well I'm sure the Chinese people will be outraged at their court system.

Are you sure that is how the compensation is based on? A 2 and 4 year old girl died on the flight. Does that mean their families will not receive any monetary compensation?

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Are you sure that is how the compensation is based on? A 2 and 4 year old girl died on the flight. Does that mean their families will not receive any monetary compensation?

Their family will get the Montreal Convention of $176,000 and then the lawyers will try and calculate 50 years of projected income. Although that may be a tough one since they theoretically don't have a family to support and their loss of income is not impacting anybody. Lawyers then will claim they would be taking care of their parents when the parents became elderly and try and show the monetary impact on the parents of not having them. Since none of their parents were on board the parents have a claim of that.

 

[Fukuoka]

Nobody is equal, you get what you have built

 

[anonymus]

If you are putting this as a philosophical question rather than the contextual one than

" No two person on this planet are born equal and neither their lives should be valued equally ".

It is perfectly moral to let whole township of labourers perish in order to save life of people whose genius, civilization depends. ( Newton, Euler.....................)

 

[Okemos]

This may not necessarily be true.

The crazy lawsuits usually are based on the current salary of the person. So if you were making $100K a year and you were 30 years old and you expected this person to work for say another 35 years. That means the family suffered a potential loss of income of at least $100K * 35. There were only 3 Americans on the plane.

There must have been multiple Chinese businesspeople on that plane who were successful.
This isn't 30 years ago. I'm sure they will be compensated far more. I'm sure the Chinese courts will be just as sympathetic. if they aren't well I'm sure the Chinese people will be outraged at their court system.

That's how the US court usually calculate compensation in wrongful death cases. It will take into account the victim's education, current job and salary, life expectancy. So a CEO's death certainly worth way way more than some average joe. Then there are other compensation such as emotional costs to family members. But I don't thing the Chinese system works this way. I'm not familiar with Chinese legal system.