– Insurance payouts to family members of MH370 continue in exchange for waivers (Intellihub, April 4, 2014):
Waivers have been accepted and insurance payouts have already been made surrounding the missing Malaysian airliner
BEIJING (INTELLIHUB) — less than 30-days after Malaysian Airlines flight 370 went missing insurance payouts to family members of the missing passengers continue despite the lack of physical evidence that anyone has even died. By some, this behavior may be considered jumping-the-gun and is typically frowned upon by law firms seeking to represent family members of the missing.
In fact, according to a recent New York Times article, several law firms have been actively scouting family members of passengers who were aboard the missing plane in hopes to represent them. It was even reported that U.S. attorney Monica R. Kelly was sent by her law firm to post up at the Lido Hotel, where most of the family members are staying to gather the latest information on MH370. Kelly was assigned to the hotel in hopes of representing as many of flight 370?s family members as possible in a U.S. court, thus bringing the matter abroad.
Edward Wong and Kurt Semple of the New York Times wrote:
Some of the Flight 370 families are accepting insurance payments as a first step. The China Life Insurance Company, the biggest such company in China, said on its website that it had 32 clients on the flight and that it had paid out $670,400 to cover seven of them as of March 25. It said the total payment for all the clients would be nearly $1.5 million. At least five other Chinese insurance companies have also made payments.
Since Malaysia is bound by the Montreal Convention, the families are also entitled to a minimum compensation from Malaysia Airlines, up to $174,000 per passenger. The airline or its insurer might try to persuade a family to agree not to sue in exchange for a payment. But lawyers discourage families from signing such waivers. (Crew members are usually not covered by the treaty, but their families can get workers’ compensation and file lawsuits.)
<a href=”http://us-ads.openx.net/w/1.0/rc?cs=cdb30b51ad&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE” ><img src=”http://us-ads.openx.net/w/1.0/ai?auid=536880831&cs=cdb30b51ad&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE” border=”0″ alt=””></a>The payouts are made by a consortium of companies that are known as reinsurers. In this case, the lead company is Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, part of Allianz of Germany. The company said it and other reinsurers had already begun making claims payments.
Now some, like myself, are questioning the rapid payouts by insurance companies, wondering what is truly taking place here. You see, if enough of the passengers family members take payouts and sign waivers, a plane, or evidence of a missing plane will never have to be produced. Further fueling the conspiracy that flight 370 may have landed at remote island U.S. controlled military base Diego Garcia under military control.
Malaysia Airlines has also already paid out $5000 per passenger to related families to aid with expenses, according to reports.