(CNN) Relatives of victims killed in the Germanwings plane crash last year are suing a U.S. flight school, saying co-pilot Andreas Lubitz should never have been allowed to join its commercial training program because of his mental health history.
The suit, representing 80 families, was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. The flight school, Airline Training Center Arizona, did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
Germanwings Flight 9525, headed from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany, smashed into a mountainside in a remote area of the French Alps in March 2015, killing all 150 people on board.
Germanwings plane crashes in France
A recovery crew works among debris of Germanwings Flight 9525 at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, on Friday, April 3. The crash killed all 150 people aboard and has raised questions about the co-pilot's mental state.
French Gen. David Galtier holds up a picture of the second black box from Germanwings 9525 during a news conference in Marseille, France, on Thursday, April 2. The flight data recorder shows that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz purposely used the controls to speed up the plane's descent, investigators said.
Rescue workers recover debris from the crash site in the French Alps on Tuesday, March 31. Flight 9525 was traveling from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany, when it crashed.
A helicopter drops rescue workers next to crash debris near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, on Sunday, March 29.
Forensic experts work near the crash site on Thursday, March 26.
Journalists stand in front of the Westerwald airfield in Montabaur, Germany, on March 27. Lubitz reportedly learned to fly here.
Investigators carry a computer from the home of Lubitz's parents in Montabaur, Germany, on Thursday, March 26.
A police officer stands guard March 26 at an apartment building where Lubitz was thought to have lived in Dusseldorf.
A helicopter lifts a rescue worker from the crash site on March 26.
Rescue workers continue to search the site of the crash on March 26.
Search-and-rescue teams land near the crash site on Wednesday, March 25.
Debris from the plane is seen along a mountainside on March 25.
French military personnel move up a mountainside March 25 near Seyne-les-Alpes.
The cockpit voice recorder of the Germanwings jet appears in this photo provided by the French air accident investigation bureau on March 25. The device is designed to capture all sounds on a plane's flight deck.
A helicopter comes in to land near Seyne-les-Alpes, the staging ground for search efforts, on March 25.
Rescue workers and members of the French Gendarmerie gather in Seyne-les-Alpes on Tuesday, March 24, as search-and-rescue teams struggle to reach the remote crash.
Wreckage is seen at the crash site on March 24.
Response teams gather in Seyne-les-Alpes on March 24.
Relatives of the flight's passengers arrive at the airport in Barcelona on March 24.
People hold hands walking through the Dusseldorf Airport on March 24.
The arrivals board at the Dusseldorf Airport shows Germanwings Flight 9525 without a status on March 24.
People arrive at the Dusseldorf Airport on March 24.
An employee of Swissport, the handling agent of Germanwings flights from Barcelona, speaks by phone at the Barcelona-El Prat Airport on March 24.
Relatives of people involved in the crash arrive at the Barcelona airport on March 24.
A man in Madrid looks at a monitor with a map, released from the Flightradar24 website, showing the point where the plane's radar signal went missing.
This undated file photo shows the Germanwings
Airbus A320 that crashed. Germanwings is a low-cost airline owned by the Lufthansa Group.
The flight's data recorder showed that Lubitz crashed the plane intentionally after locking the pilot out of the cockpit.
The 27-year-old had a history of severe depression, a French prosecutor said.
"If you have a young man, a pilot who was mentally unstable and untrustworthy ... you cannot allow a person to become a pilot with those conditions and put the passengers at risk," said Marc S. Moller, a New York-based attorney for the families.
"The crux is that ATCA, the defendant, is that they had an obligation before they allowed Lubitz into the program to look into his mental history. And had they done that, they would have seen his mental problems and lying."
Who was co-pilot Andreas Lubitz?
What the families claim
According to the suit, the flight school required Lubitz to present both German and Federal Aviation Administration medical certificates.
Reaction to Germanwings plane crash
Relatives of the
Germanwings Flight 9525 crash victims arrive on Saturday, April 4, at a ceremony as rescuers hold flags of the late passengers' nationalities in the village of Le Vernet. Flight 9525 was carrying 150 people when it crashed in the French Alps in March. It was traveling from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany.
French government officials observe a moment of silence for
Germanwings Flight 9525 near the crash site Friday, April 3, in Le Vernet, France.
A black mourning band is seen at a ticket counter for German airline Lufthansa at the airport in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Tuesday, March 31.
Messages for the victims are displayed at the airport in Dusseldorf on March 31.
French Red Cross members and residents pay tribute to the victims at the memorial in Le Vernet on Saturday, March 28.
A memorial service is held at the Notre Dame du Bourg cathedral in Digne-les-Bains, France, on March 28.
Students of the Joseph-Koenig Gymnasium school arrive for a memorial service in Haltern, Germany, on Friday, March 27. Sixteen students and two teachers from Haltern were among the victims.
A cross is pictured at Seyne-les-Alpes, France, on March 27, a day after families of crash victims arrived near the plane crash site.
German President Joachim Gauck, alongside Haltern Mayor Bodo Klimpel, delivers a statement March 27 at a church in Haltern.
A closeup of the memorial in Le Vernet on Thursday, March 26.
People pause for a moment of silence in Llinars del Valles, Spain, on Wednesday, March 25.
Members of the German and Australian national soccer teams observe a moment of silence before a friendly match in Kaiserslautern, Germany, on March 25.
A woman uses public transit in Madrid as flags fly at half-staff on March 25.
Andrus Ansip, European commissioner for Digital Single Market, marks a moment of silence March 25 at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.
From left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pay respect to victims at the crash site on March 25.
People hug in front of the Joseph-Koenig Gymnasium school in Haltern on March 25.
A person in Madrid stands near a Spanish flag flying at half-staff on March 25.
Employees and trustees of the opera house Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain, gather March 25 to honor Oleg Bryjak and Maria Radner, two opera singers who were aboard the flight.
Employees and members of the Spanish Parliament hold a moment of silence in Madrid on March 25.
Members of the German soccer club Bayern Munich hold a moment of silence before their practice in Munich on March 25.
Workers from the Delphi factory, who lost two colleagues in the crash, mourn together in Sant Cugat del Valles, Spain, on March 25.
A Lufthansa employee signs a condolence book in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 25.
European Union flags fly at half-staff at the European Union Commission building in Brussels on March 25.
Students and well-wishers gather in front of Joseph-Koenig Gymnasium on Tuesday, March 24.
A student lights a candle in front of Joseph-Koenig Gymnasium on March 24.
Friends of the German students attend a Mass in Llinars del Valles, a Spanish village near Barcelona, on March 24.
Candles sit on a paper reading "In silent memory, Class 9A/9C" in front of the Haltern high school on March 24.
Staff members of Germanwings and Lufthansa stand in front of the Germanwings headquarters in Cologne, Germany, on March 24. They placed flowers and candles at the main entrance. Germanwings is a low-cost airline owned by the Lufthansa Group.
French parliament members observe a minute of silence at the National Assembly in Paris on March 24.
"The notation was printed on the German medical certificate to indicate that his medical certificate would become invalid if there was a relapse or recurrence of his depression," the lawsuit states.
"ATCA knew, should have known, or could have determined that Lubitz ... had an extensively documented history of dangerous and debilitating psychotic and depressive conditions, including reactive depression, (and) that his treatment for those disorders included doctor-prescribed medication that prevented Lubitz from pilot training."
Among the issues: Lubitz suspended his course work for almost 10 months because of his severe depressive disorder, the suit claims. And during that time, "Lubitz was hospitalized and underwent nine months of extensive and intensive psychotherapy for severe depressive episodes, anxiety and suicidal ideations."
The suit does not specify an exact amount the families are seeking, but says they are asking for compensation that a jury "determines is just, full and fair."
Read the lawsuit
A terrifying 11 minutes
During Flight 9525's fatal descent, French air traffic controllers called the flight crew 11 times on three different frequencies without any response. The French military defense system also tried three times to contact the aircraft, without any answer.
Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz
The plane's 34-year-old captain had left the cockpit after the plane reached its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet and buzzed to re-enter about four minutes later.
The cockpit voice recorder picked up what sounds like knocking on the door and the sound of a muffled voice asking for the door to be opened.
The captain starts screaming and pounds on the door, to no avail.
"During this sequence of events until the moment of impact, the passengers experienced extreme fear of impending death, panic, pain, suffering and unimaginable mental anguish," the lawsuit states.
It said the entire descent took 11 minutes.
CNN's Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.