A Brazilian judge has ordered Air France to pay $1.16 million (€844,000) in compensation to the family of a victim of last year's crash in which 228 people died.
Air France flight AF447 between Rio de Janeiro and Paris crashed into the sea during a storm on June 1st 2009, killing all on board.
The Rio civil court judge ordered the French company to pay a total of 2.04 million reais ($1.16 million) as compensation for the death of Marcelle Valpacos Fonseca Lima, a 41-year-old woman who was Rio de Janeiro state attorney-general.
Judge Mauro Nicolau Junior said in his ruling that the crash over the Atlantic Ocean last June, the cause of which is still unclear, was in large part due to the "negligent conduct of the accused".
Air France's insurance company this evening said it would appeal the Brazilian court's ruling.
French insurance company Axa said in a statement it did not accept the ruling as a precedent because compensation should be decided by a committee set up after the crash by Brazil's government, associations of victims' families and insurers.
Following the crash, the airline said it would compensate families of the victims through its insurers, with payments of approximately €100,000 per victim as a compassionate gesture rather than an admission of liability.
Passengers from 32 nationalities died in the crash of the Airbus 330. Among them were 61 French people and 58 Brazilians.
An international search to locate the wreckage failed to find the black box recorders that are crucial to pinpointing the cause of crash but is due to resume this month.
Reuters