Two different jurisdictions, FAA and LBA, with very different standards. (I have dealt with both, as it happens.) Why not subject the student to the highest local standard rather than the lowest one, just in case?
It was a no-brainer to me that London Met wanted to see a JAR First Class medical before they let me do the course and sit the ATPL writtens. Did I need that to fly a desk? Of course not, but I would definitely need it for the end goal, so that there was no good reason for someone unable to hold a First Class medical to do the course and sit the writtens. I am simply applying the same logic to a student in the States there to train for an airline job.
That the LBA was happy to allow a fellow with a history of severe depression to obtain a First Class medical does not show that the FAA would have also been so understanding. It does not take a wild imagination to think that the LBA might have been doing Lubitz some sort of favor there, one that the FAA would not also have done. A second look at his history in terms of "Should this fellow be passed for an FAA First Class medical or not?" might have been a very good idea.
Never mind. Let's see how this attempt to sue the school goes.