Germanwings crash relatives lose court case on compensation

News agency dpa said the state court in the western German city of Essen rejected the plaintiffs' case for a higher payout than originally offered, as judges found that Lufthansa and its U.S.-based flight school weren't responsible for determining whether Lubitz was fit to fly.

A German court on Wednesday rejected demands for higher compensation from Lufthansa by eight people who lost loved ones in the deliberate crash of a plane operated by its budget airline Germanwings five years ago

French and German investigators have concluded that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed the Airbus A320 he was co-piloting into a French mountainside on March 24, 2015, killing all 150 people on board flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf. News agency dpa said the state court in the western German city of Essen rejected the plaintiffs' case for a higher payout than originally offered, as judges found that Lufthansa and its U.S.-based flight school weren't responsible for determining whether Lubitz was fit to fly. The plaintiffs had argued that they allowed him to complete his training despite evidence of mental illness

Judge Lars Theissen said aviation safety is "a state task."