Boeing Settles Additional 737 MAX Crash Lawsuits Ahead of Trial
Boeing has reached further out-of-court settlements in lawsuits linked to the fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302, resolving multiple cases just days before a US jury trial on damages was due to begin. The settlements involve claims brought by a Canadian man who lost several close family members in the 2019 Boeing 737 MAX disaster.
The lawsuits were filed by Manant Vaidya on behalf of the estates of his parents, Pannagesh and Hansini Vaidya, and his sister, Kosha Vaidya. All 157 passengers and crew on board Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 were killed when the Boeing 737-8 aircraft crashed shortly after departing Addis Ababa International Airport on March 10, 2019. Among the victims were also Kosha Vaidya’s husband, Preritkumar Dixit, and their two children, Ashka and Anushka Dixit.
According to Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, which represented the Vaidya family, the cases were settled late on January 13. The agreement came after a jury had already been selected and only hours before opening statements were scheduled at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. The trial was set to focus solely on damages, as Boeing had previously accepted legal responsibility for the crash.
Robert Clifford, founder of Clifford Law Offices, said the settlements brought a measure of accountability for the family. He noted that Boeing had acknowledged responsibility for what he described as a preventable tragedy and that the legal process had now forced the company to answer for the losses suffered.
In a separate statement reported by The Canadian Press, Boeing spokesperson Shelley Spreier said the company remained deeply sorry for the families’ losses. She reiterated Boeing’s earlier commitment to compensate victims’ families fairly and confirmed that the manufacturer had accepted legal responsibility for the accidents in court proceedings.
The Ethiopian Airlines crash occurred less than five months after the October 2018 loss of Lion Air flight JT610 in Indonesia, which also involved a Boeing 737-8. The two accidents prompted the worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX fleet and led to intense regulatory scrutiny of Boeing’s aircraft design, certification process, and corporate safety culture.
Boeing has since settled more than 90% of the civil lawsuits arising from the two crashes and has paid billions of dollars in compensation, according to the company. While legal proceedings continue in some cases, the latest settlements underscore Boeing’s ongoing efforts to close one of the most damaging chapters in its history, even as scrutiny of its broader safety and manufacturing practices remains high.
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Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, ch-aviation.com