Long fight for justice for relatives of Flight MH370 victims

With Flight MH370 having been missing for over a month, lawyers are gearing up to fight for relatives seeking compensation. The US could be the battleground, writes Gillian Wong

SINCE Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, some lawyers have claimed they can get several millions of dollars in damages for each lost passenger by taking the cases to the US. But past lawsuits show US federal courts are more likely to throw such cases out if the crashes happened overseas.

Major disasters draw lawyers looking to sign up clients for big lawsuits, and the missing Malaysian plane, which was carrying mostly Chinese passengers, has been no exception. Lawyers from various firms have descended on a Beijing hotel where relatives of the passengers have been staying, and have even travelled around China to visit them in their homes.