Boeing to Face New Civil Trial Over 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Crash

Boeing to Stand Trial Over 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Crash

Boeing is set to face a jury trial in Chicago starting Monday over the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash involving a 737 MAX, making it the first civil case related to the tragedy to go to court. The two-week trial initially involved two plaintiffs who lost family members, but one lawsuit was settled privately before the trial, following a pattern of out-of-court resolutions seen in similar cases.

The trial will begin with jury selection, though additional settlements could still be reached during the proceedings. Robert Clifford, an attorney representing several victim families, mentioned that discussions are ongoing, and further settlements may be finalized even after the trial begins.

The crash, which occurred on March 10, 2019, killed all 157 people on board just six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on its way to Nairobi. Following the disaster, the families of 155 victims filed lawsuits against Boeing from April 2019 to March 2021, citing wrongful death, negligence, and other allegations. By late March, 18 cases remained open, with Sunday’s settlement reducing that number by three.

This week’s trial will focus on the case of Canadian victim Darcy Belanger, a 46-year-old Colorado resident and environmental advocate, who was en route to a United Nations conference in Nairobi at the time of the crash.

U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso has grouped the remaining lawsuits into sets of five or six, specifying that a trial will not continue if all cases in a group are settled. A similar trial was called off in November after Boeing reached a settlement with the family of a female victim.

The 2019 Ethiopian Airlines disaster followed a similar crash involving a Lion Air 737 MAX in Indonesia in October 2018, which claimed 189 lives. Boeing also faced numerous lawsuits from the victims’ families, with just one case still pending as of March.

While the financial details of Boeing’s settlements remain undisclosed, the company has publicly acknowledged its responsibility for the MAX crashes, attributing the incidents to flaws in the aircraft’s design, specifically the MCAS system.