Berlin (dpa) - The first civil proceedings to come out of the 2015 Germanwings crash, in which a co-pilot is thought to have deliberately downed the plane, killing all 150 on board, are to begin in the German city of Essen on Wednesday.
The lawsuit has been brought by the relatives of passengers who died in the crash against Lufthansa Group, Germanwings' parent company, as well as Lufthansa Aviation Training USA Inc, a flight school in the United States.
It is there that the co-pilot, who had suffered from depression, received his training.
He is accused of deliberately steering the plane into a mountain in the French Alps on March 24, 2015.
Among the victims were 16 school pupils and two teachers from a high school in the town of Haltern am See in western Germany.
The plaintiffs accuse the flight school and Lufthansa of failures in the run-up to the tragedy and are demanding higher damages than those already paid out by Germany's flagship airline.
However, the Essen court has said that the duty of medical supervision could also be a state matter, in which case the lawsuit would be filed against the wrong entities.
No decision is expected at Wednesday's hearing.
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