Australia is now leading the search effort in the southern part of the southern corridor, 2500km south west of Perth which has now been narrowed from 2.24 million square nautical miles to 469,207 square nautical miles
Mr Hussein said he presumed that any debris from the missing plane would be brought to Australia and he suggested that it would fall to Australia as well to investigate.
However under ICAO laws, if the plane crashed in international waters, the investigation is the responsibility of the country of the carrier.
http://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...-in-indian-ocean/story-fnizu68q-1226863821771
I was listening to a legal analyst last night on CNN and they said that lawsuits will most likely start in Malaysia and China (Malaysian airlines, Chinese passengers) and possibly Australia because the plane fell in their international waters. The Estates can sue if they find fault, in that case most of the deep pocket lawsuits will be handled in the United States because the engines were made here at Boeing.
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Under an international treaty known as the Montreal Convention, the airline must pay relatives of each deceased passenger an initial sum of around $150,000 to $175,000.
Relatives of victims can also sue for further damages -- unless the airline can prove that it took all necessary measures to prevent a crash or any other incident that prevented passengers from arriving safely.
"It's going to be extremely difficult for Malaysia Airlines to plead absence of negligence" when the plane is missing, said Brian Havel, a law professor and director of the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University. "The negligence may have even begun in the process of accepting stolen passports." Liability could also stretch beyond the airline to the plane's manufacturer, Boeing, if a mechanical flaw is ruled the cause. But that would be a difficult case to prove if the plane is not recovered.
Monica Kelly, an attorney at Ribbeck Law Chartered who plans to file suit against Malaysia Airlines and Boeing, believes that based on her experience, families could receive between $400,000 and $3 million in damages. However, it could take two years before they see the money, she said.
And a lot depends on where the lawsuits are filed. Plaintiffs tend to be awarded much larger sums in U.S. courts than in other countries, said Mike Danko, an aviation lawyer with Danko Meredith who estimates some awards could be as large as $6 million to $8 million.
Uncertainty about the passengers' fate could slow the legal process. But if months go by with no sign of the passengers, most countries will allow judges to rule that a passenger is presumed dead, allowing claims to move forward, including life insurance and other other end-of-life matters.
Any lawsuits will likely unfold in several countries since people of 14 different nationalities were on board the flight. U.S. attorneys are already on the ground in Beijing, where many of the families are awaiting news of their loved ones in a hotel.
But most claims will likely be settled out of court, Havel said.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/21/news/companies/malaysia-airlines-insurance/
