庭前会议 pretrial conference

庭前会议pretrial conference

A pretrial conference in the high-profile litigation related to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was focused mainly on exchanges of evidence and clarifying appeals and opinions of the parties and ended on Tuesday, a lawyer involved in the litigation said.

据律师介绍，颇受关注的马航MH370航班诉讼案庭前会议于21日结束，此次庭前会议主要关注证据交换并明确各方的诉讼请求和意见。

Flight MH370 disappeared from radar on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The aircraft was carrying 239 people, including 154 Chinese passengers.

2014年3月8日，马航MH370航班在从吉隆坡飞往北京的途中失联，机上载有239人，其中包括154名中国乘客。

庭前会议（pretrial conference）是在开庭以前，审判人员召集当事人（litigants）和诉讼代理人（lawyers），对回避、出庭证人名单（lists of challenge witnesses and witnesses in court）、非法证据排除（exclusion of illegal evidences）等与审判相关的问题了解情况、听取意见的一种会议，是为正式开庭所做的准备。

据报道，本案的五个被告分别为：美国波音公司（aircraft maker Boeing）、英国罗尔斯飞机发动机制造商（engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce）、德国安联保险（German insurance company Allianz）、马来西亚航空（Malaysia Airlines Systems）和新马航（Malaysia Airlines Berhad）。

本次庭前会议主要是明确身份和诉讼请求（clarifying identities and appeals），原被告进行举证（plaintiffs and defendants exchange evidences），没有进行置辩。

据一位代理律师介绍，除了发起诉讼的30多位乘客家属外，中国其他60多名乘客家属已经与马航达成赔偿协议（reached compensation deals）。他代理的14名家属中，最少的索赔金额是1400万元，最多的7700万元。他表示，这是根据家属各自的痛苦程度（mental anguish），以及失联旅客的年龄、收入、家里的负担大小，以及所在城市的收入水平（income level of their living cities）等方面确定的。

litigation[ˌl itiˈgeiʃn] n-uncount

Litigation is the process of fighting or defending a case in a civil court of law.

The settlement ends more than four years of litigation on behalf of the residents.

这一和解协议结束了代表居民提起的超过四年之久的诉讼。

litigant[ˈl itigənt] n-count

A litigant is a person who is involved in a civil legal case, either because they are making a formal complaint about someone, or because a complaint is being made about them.