Boeing Settles Another Lawsuit Over Deadly 737 Max Crash

Boeing has agreed to settle another lawsuit stemming from the deadly 737 Max crash in Ethiopia, further closing a chapter in one of the most consequential aviation safety crises in modern history. The settlement was reached on Tuesday, Jan. 13, just days before the case was set to go before a jury in U.S. federal court.

Attorneys for the plaintiff confirmed the agreement on Wednesday, after jury selection had concluded and shortly before opening statements were scheduled to begin. The financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The lawsuit was brought by Manant Vaidya, a Canadian resident whose parents and sister were among the victims of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The flight, operated by a Ethiopian Airlines 737-8, crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in March 2019, killing all 157 people on board.

Vaidya lost his parents, Pannagesh and Hansini Vaidya, and his sister Kosha Vaidya in the crash. Also killed were Kosha’s husband, Preritkumar Dixit, and their two young daughters, Ashka and Anushka Dixit. The family, who lived in Canada at the time, had been traveling during the children’s spring break.

“Boeing accepted full responsibility for the senseless and preventable loss of these innocent lives,” said Clifford Law Offices founder Robert Clifford, whose firm represented the Vaidya family. He added that the settlement represents accountability for a family devastated by the crash.

Flight 302 was the second fatal 737 Max accident in less than five months, following the October 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia. Together, the disasters led to a global grounding of the 737 Max fleet and intense scrutiny of Boeing’s design, certification, and safety culture.

Investigations later determined that both crashes were caused by failures linked to the aircraft’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a flight-control system that repeatedly forced the planes into nose-down positions based on faulty sensor data. Pilots were unable to override the system before losing control.

Boeing has acknowledged MCAS’s role in the crashes and has since redesigned the system, updated pilot training, and implemented broader safety reforms. In 2024, the company entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. government, agreeing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties tied to the Max crisis and oversight failures involving the Federal Aviation Administration.

The settlement follows a growing list of resolved claims. In November, Boeing reached a $35.8 million settlement with the family of an Indian woman killed in the Ethiopian crash, and several other cases have been settled out of court.

While many lawsuits remain unresolved, the latest agreement underscores Boeing’s continued efforts to limit prolonged courtroom battles as it seeks to rebuild trust with regulators, airlines, and the flying public in the aftermath of the 737 Max tragedies.

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, yahoo.com