SAN FRANCISCO CRASH FAMILIES HIRE TOP NEW YORK LAWYERS

The families of three Chinese teenagers killed earlier this month when an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash-landed at San Francisco airport have hired New York aviation specialist lawyers Kreindler & Kreindler to represent them. Kreindler & Kreindler will also be representing 12 injured US, Chinese and South Korean passengers. One of the passengers, Ye Meng Yuan, was killed after being struck by a fire truck rushing to the scene. The lawyers have sent a letter to the San Francisco Fire Department requesting various items of evidence relating to the department's response to the crash. Asiana Airlines has hired Frank Silane at Los Angeles-based legal firm Condon & Forsyth. Lawyers are barred under a 1996 Act from contacting victims until 45 days have passed after the incident that is the cause of the legal action, and the National Transportation Safety Board has circulated a warning to lawyers, threatening with disbarment any transgressors of this rule. According to the Montreal Convention, adopted in 1999, only passengers who are permanent US residents, or purchased tickets in the US, or who were flying to the US as a final destination, can sue Asiana in the US. On the flight were 141 Chinese passengers, 77 South Koreans and 64 Americans. Kreindler has said that Boeing would be targeted as the primary defendant. Suing the San Francisco Fire Department, a government entity, would require evidence that the department failed to follow specific rules. New York-based AIG has been reported as the lead insurer on the roughly $130m hull insurance cover, with Asiana's $2bn-plus liability cover taken through Korea-based LIG, which has been reinsured through Korean Re and several global reinsurers.