Eleven family members of four Dutch and three Indonesian families jointly filed the lawsuit against MAS at the High Court on Friday. They are seeking general and special damages.
When met outside the High Court registry, the families’ lawyer Arunan Selvaraj, declined to disclose the names of the passengers and their family members. He said that his clients had requested privacy.
In the joint suit, the families claim that the national airline had negligently flown over an area of conflict.
They obtained consent from the MAS administrator, under the MAS Act, prior to commencing the lawsuit.
Another lawyer, Shailender Bhar, said he had also filed a lawsuit on behalf of 30 family members of two passengers and six flight crew.
He declined to provide the statement of claim of the 30 next of kin.
Previously, on June 2, 11 family members of six MH17 cabin crew members, namely Nur Shazana Mohamed Salleh, Hamdazlin Sham Mohamed Arifin, Sanjid Singh, Mohd Ghafar Abu Bakar, Lee Hui Pin and Chong Yee Pheng, sued MAS for alleged negligence and breach of contract.
They claim that the national airline had neglected accident flight planning and the flight’s operation.
Flight MH17, from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board.