chinaHere’s the promised update on the Baotou air crash. The 40 million dollars asked for by the victims of the crash is looking more reasonable to me (it’s to be spread out among 30 clients). And it turns out, from interviewing one of our lawyers leading the case, Hao Junbo, this is a landmark case in China.
For those unfamiliar with the details of the Baotou crash, on the 21st of November, 2004, a flight leaving from Baotou in Inner Mongolia crashed into a frozen lake seconds after take off, killing 47 passengers, 6 crew, and 1 person on land. Though tragic, the crash itself does not seem particularly unique. But, for several reasons, this is the first time litigation has been brought against an airline in China.
Though there have been other plain crashes, several circumstances made it difficult for Chinese to bring cases against Chinese airlines. First, records involved with plane crashes have been kept secret in China. Second, most airlines are connected with the Chinese government and, as a result, individuals seeking recompense from the airlines have not had the ability to do so. Third, most Chinese are not used to the concept of litigation, especially against corporations backed by the government.
Previously, when Chinese lose family in accidents, the companies at fault usually compensate according to an amount based on a government number. In the case of the Baotou crash, the compensation offered was 250,000 yuan, (roughly 30 thousand US dollars) a relatively high amount in China, and the local Baotou government pushed the victim’s families to accept the offered compensation. However, about 30 of the families of the crash victims want more.
And it’s not just about the money. Because the records of the crash are kept secret, the families do not know why the plane crashed—why their loved ones died. Before, Chinese relatives of air crash victims simply had to accept a set amount of money and tight-lipped silence from the airlines. Now, with the help of several law firms, (including Lehman, Lee & Xu in China and Lieff Cabraser firm in the states) they are suing for compensation more along the lines of actual incomes of their lost family members and maintaining a hope that the reason for the crash will be revealed.
But it was difficult for Michael Pierce of Panama and Hao Junbo, a LLX attorney, to convince the victim’s families to sue China Eastern. At the time, they had not even considered the option of suing a large corporation and thought that the lawyers were, in Hao Junbo’s words, “dubious.” Only after speaking with the victim’s families and explaining that the airline could, and should pay them according to actual lost incomes instead of an arbitrary rate, that the case would be tried in the United States if it went to court, and that they would prepare a contingency agreement so the clients would have no risk, did the families agree to sue China Eastern.
The idea that an individual or a group of individuals can stand up to a big corporation or state owned enterprise is very new to the Chinese. Hao Junbo believes that this case can show the Chinese “that we can fight against these gigantic companies.”
Though some might say it's a bad thing that the Chinese are starting to sue like Americans, I think that this case will have a positive effect. Where the families of victims have had to accept non-explanations and an amount of money that had little to do with the income actually lost, now the law is providing a safe way for them to stand up for themselves. Where big companies felt that they were not accountable to individuals, now with the help of the law, they are. Suing people isn’t always a bad thing.
