Under current German law, families of disaster victims are only entitled to compensation if they can prove the victim’s death has resulted in serious harm. German lawmakers are seeking to legally implement a claim to compensation and will seek to implement the new law in the Civil Code (BGB) and/or the Crime Victims Compensation Act. The new rules will come too late to apply to the families of victims of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash, which were mainly German.
The 1999 Montreal Convention requires that airlines pay up to roughly US$170,000 a victim in cases of accidental death or injury, more if it injury or death is found to be the airline's fault.
The amount of compensation each family receives depends on the nationality of the deceased. Currently Americans courts award the largest settlements in.