Editor's note: This Shark believes it would have been refreshing to have Judge Flanagan in the Probate Court of Cook County to throw out some of the lawyers using questionable tactics in the Estate of Alice R. Gore. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Cook judge throws out Malaysia plane suit filed by Chicago firm
CAPTIONS
Missing Malaysia plane
Matthew Oxley stands aboard the Australian Navy ship the HMAS Success looking for debris in the southern Indian Ocean during the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 on March 31. (Handout, Reuters /March 31, 2014)
Matthew Oxley stands aboard the Australian Navy ship the HMAS Success looking for debris in the southern Indian Ocean during the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 on March 31. (Handout, Reuters /March 31, 2014)
A Cook County judge has thrown out the first court action filed in connection with the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet, calling the filing improper and threatening to impose sanctions against a Chicago-based law firm that has been accused of questionable tactics in the wake of aviation disasters.
Without solid evidence of a crash or wreckage of the jet, Ribbeck Law Chartered said in a petition filed last week that the Beijing-bound Flight 370 had experienced a catastrophic mechanical failure before plunging into the southern Indian Ocean, killing all 239 passengers and crew on board.
The petition named Malaysia Airlines and Chicago-based Boeing as defendants and sought to preserve evidence in the case and to identify anyone involved in the plane's manufacture and upkeep.
But in dismissing the action, Judge Kathy Flanagan, who oversees all airline-related suits filed in Cook County Circuit Court, said in a four-page ruling filed late Friday that the law allows such filings only when the identity of potential defendants is unknown.
Flanagan noted Ribbeck had filed virtually identical petitions last year after separate fatal airplane crashes in San Francisco and Laos and that she had dismissed them both for the same reason.
"Despite these orders, the same law firm has proceeded, yet again, with the filing of the (Malaysia crash) petition, knowing full well there is no basis to do so," Flanagan wrote.
The judge said if Ribbeck continued to make such filings she "will impose sanctions."
The petition named as plaintiff Dr. Januari Siregar, who was described as the father of missing passenger Firman Chandra Siregar, 24. But the plaintiff has instead turned out to be an uncle at odds with the rest of the family. A spokesman for Siregar's real father told the Tribune in an email Friday that Ribbeck Law had no authorization from him to take legal action in Chicago.
Critics, meanwhile, called the court filing a publicity stunt -- a series of accusations thrown together in order to win the battle for legal business after an air disaster.
Ribbeck's principal attorney, Monica Kelly, was not immediately available for comment. Kelly told reporters in Asia last week that her firm eventually expected to represent families of more than half of those on board the jet that disappeared March 8 over the south Indian Ocean.
The search for possible wreckage was ongoing today.
jmeisner@tribune.com | twitter: @jmetr22b
Without solid evidence of a crash or wreckage of the jet, Ribbeck Law Chartered said in a petition filed last week that the Beijing-bound Flight 370 had experienced a catastrophic mechanical failure before plunging into the southern Indian Ocean, killing all 239 passengers and crew on board.
The petition named Malaysia Airlines and Chicago-based Boeing as defendants and sought to preserve evidence in the case and to identify anyone involved in the plane's manufacture and upkeep.
Flanagan noted Ribbeck had filed virtually identical petitions last year after separate fatal airplane crashes in San Francisco and Laos and that she had dismissed them both for the same reason.
"Despite these orders, the same law firm has proceeded, yet again, with the filing of the (Malaysia crash) petition, knowing full well there is no basis to do so," Flanagan wrote.
The judge said if Ribbeck continued to make such filings she "will impose sanctions."
The petition named as plaintiff Dr. Januari Siregar, who was described as the father of missing passenger Firman Chandra Siregar, 24. But the plaintiff has instead turned out to be an uncle at odds with the rest of the family. A spokesman for Siregar's real father told the Tribune in an email Friday that Ribbeck Law had no authorization from him to take legal action in Chicago.
Critics, meanwhile, called the court filing a publicity stunt -- a series of accusations thrown together in order to win the battle for legal business after an air disaster.
Ribbeck's principal attorney, Monica Kelly, was not immediately available for comment. Kelly told reporters in Asia last week that her firm eventually expected to represent families of more than half of those on board the jet that disappeared March 8 over the south Indian Ocean.
The search for possible wreckage was ongoing today.
jmeisner@tribune.com | twitter: @jmetr22b
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