Foreign law firms compete for Mandala crash cases

Foreign law firms compete for Mandala crash cases

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Medan

Several foreign law firms are competing for clients wanting to
sue U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. in connection with the
tragic crash of a Mandala Airlines plane in Medan last month.

Abdul Hafiz Harahap, a brother of Regional Representatives
Council member Abdul Halim Harahap who died in the crash, said on
Friday that he had been approached by three foreign law firms
offering to represent the family in its lawsuit against Boeing.

The three firms, he said, were the Nolan Law Group from
Chicago, Law Offices Engstrom Lipscomb & Lack from Los Angeles
and Speiser Krause from New York.

"After careful consideration, the family decided to appoint
the Nolan Law Group since we found them more open and transparent
than other law firms," Abdul Hafiz told The Jakarta Post on
Friday.

On Thursday, one of the firm's lawyers, Manuel von Ribbeck,
announced the firm had filed the first suit on Wednesday in a
Chicago court to represent the late Abdul Halim Harahap's family.
The initial target would be United Technologies Inc., the company
that designed and manufactured the Boeing aircraft that crashed.

The law firms have claimed they had been appointed by a number
of families of the crash victims. The Mandala Airlines Boeing
737-200 jetliner crashed into a densely populated residential
area near Polonia Airport in Medan on Sept. 5. Fifteen passengers
survived the crash, which killed 102 people on board and 47 on
the ground.

Nolan announced that it represented at least 100 families
while Speiser Krause claimed it had been appointed by 30
families.

Law Offices Engstrom Lipscomb & Lack and Medan-based
Kamaluddin Lubin law firm, the only law firm that has expressed
willingness to represent families of the crash victims in ads in
local media, has not made any announcement to date.

However, none of the families that appointed the law firms
know how much compensation they will get if they win the case,
while the law firms insist each family will be compensated
differently, based on their individual loss.

Abdul Hafiz said his family was told that the amount of
compensation was determined by several factors, including the age
of the victim, his or her job and the number of families he or
she supported.

Ribbeck said the amount of compensation would depend on the
jury's decision at the Chicago court, and that the firm would
take a 33 percent fee of the compensation awarded each family it
represented. He stressed that the firm would not take advantage
of the families as it was charging less than the regular fee.

Law firm Speiser Krause, through lawyer Arthur E. Ballen, said
in Medan on Tuesday the company would take about 30 percent of
the compensation awarded. He expressed optimism that in the next
90 days, the families that the firm represented would know the
amount of compensation they would receive.