Skip to main content

Update: Lufthansa Knew the Co-Pilot Had Depression Issues

News reports indicate that Lufthansa (the owner/parent company of Germanwings) did know that Andreas Lubitz had depression problems, even during his pilot training:
Lubitz...told his Lufthansa flight training school in 2009 that he had a "previous episode of severe depression," the airline said Tuesday.
Despite this knowledge, Lufthansa allowed Lubitz to continue training to be a pilot and eventually put him in a cockpit, in a position where he could cause the mass murder of 149 people. Information like this supports a claim for negligent hiring or retention.

Damages to make victims "whole" are called compensatory damages. But could Germanwings/Lufthansa be held liable for additional damages, damages to punish them (called "punitive damages") for allowing Lubitz to complete his training and get in a cockpit, knowing he had mental health issues?

From a purely New York law perspective, probably not, because punitive damages are hard to get and usually involve only intentional, malicious conduct. Germanwings/Lufthansa did not intentionally allow Lubitz to do what he did. They were just very careless.

However, New York law has a theory of liability called "gross negligence", which can be satisfied if the offending party's conduct (here, Germanwings/Lufthansa) evinced a reckless indifference to the rights of others, or the offending party failed to exercise even slight care or slight diligence:
Gross negligence "differs in kind, not only degree, from claims of ordinary negligence". "To constitute gross negligence, a party's conduct must smack of intentional wrongdoing or evince a reckless indifference to the rights of others". "Stated differently, a party is grossly negligent when it fails to exercise even slight care or slight diligence".
Dolphin Holdings, Ltd. v. Gander & White Shipping, Inc., 122 A.D.3d 901, 902, 998 N.Y.S.2d 107 (2d Dep't 2014). 

Gross negligence has been held to justify awards of punitive-like damages. See, e.g., Fordham-Coleman v. National Fuel Gas Distrib. Corp., 42 A.D.3d 106, 113, 834 N.Y.S.2d 422 (4th Dep't 2007). Again, this is all from a New York law perspective, but let's see how this case plays out. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Know Your Rights: Money/Remedy at Law vs. Equitable Relief

When you bring a lawsuit (or some other kind of action or proceeding) in court, you are asking the court to give you some kind of relief. Generally speaking, that relief is either money (called "damages" or "money damages" or a "remedy at law") or equitable relief. Everyone knows what money is. What is "equitable relief"? It is relief other than money. Some examples of equitable relief (or "relief at equity" or an "equitable remedy") are:  specific performance of a contract -- you entered into a contract with another party for them to do something; they failed to do it; you sue them to force them to perform as they agreed to in the contract an injunction -- you bring an action to make another party do something or stop doing something rescission of contract -- you entered into a contract; you believe there is a problem with the contract, or the other side committed fraud, or the other side can't perform its oblig...

Recent Case Developments: Employment Contract Enforceable Against Employer Even Though Not Signed

The plaintiff is a modeling scout. Defendant modeling agency decided to hire him as a modeling scout for $190,000/year, plus bonuses. An employment contract was prepared. One provision of the contact said that if the plaintiff were ever fired without cause, he would be entitled to 6-months severance ($95,000). The contract also said that it could be signed in counterparts. The plaintiff signed the contract on August 18, 2015 and emailed his signature to the modeling agency. One of the agency's board members emailed back, saying "Welcome aboard. We'll countersign over the next few days." But no one from the agency ever signed the contract. Nevertheless, the plaintiff began working as a modeling scout, and the agency paid him according to the contract. But after six months, the agency decided to terminate him, without cause. The agency then refused to pay him the $95,000 severance, and the plaintiff brought a lawsuit for breach of contract. The modeling agency m...

Recent Case Developments: Contractor Entitled to be Paid For Extra Work Not Part of Original Contract

On September 12, 2013, the Town of Kent (Putnam County) entered into a contract with a contractor to build a sewer.  During construction, certain "conditions that were unexpected and unanticipated" arose, requiring the contractor to do "extra" work--things beyond the scope of work of the original contract. (The appeals court doesn't detail what this extra work was.) The contractor performed the extra work, totaling around $380,000 in additional costs. For reasons not stated by the appeals court, the Town refused to pay for this extra work, and the contractor eventually sued the Town in May, 2015.  The contractor moved for summary judgment in the lower court (a kind of mini-trial on paper), and the court awarded judgment in favor of the contractor for the $380,000.  The Town appealed, but the appeals court sided with the contractor, saying that even though this "extra" work was not within the scope of work of the original contract, the con...