Families of Boeing 737 crash victims urge judge to reject plea deal

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
1 Aug 2024 14:29
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The families of the 346 victims of two Boeing fatal crashes are demanding that the planemaker pay a higher fine that corresponds with the magnitude of its crime.

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Workers collect debris on March 12, 2019, at the scene where an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff. (AP)

The families of some of the 346 victims killed in two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes demanded that the US judge handling the lawsuit reject the planemaker’s proposed plea deal with the US Department of Justice, proposing that the government sets a higher fine.

In July, Boeing and the US government finalized a plea deal involving the planemaker admitting to conspiracy to defraud the United States. As part of the plea deal, Boeing will pay a fine set between $243.6 and $487 million and will be subject to oversight by an independent monitor for three years.

The two tragic crashes occurred in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, both linked to a flight-control system about which Boeing was accused of misleading regulators. In 2021, Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement that included the same $243.6 million fine and commitments to comply with specific conditions.

Boeing had claimed it had followed the provisions of the 2021 agreement. However, the firm has seen a string of safety mishaps in recent months, including an in-flight door panel burst on a 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines.

Insufficient fine for the 'historically deadliest corporate crime'

Paul Cassell, an attorney for some of the families, said the fine was insufficient and "rests on misleading accounting and inaccurate accounting," further adding that it fails to consider Boeing's crime of killing 346 people, further describing the decision as "morally reprehensible."

Adrian Vuckovich, another lawyer representing relatives of the victims, also suggested in a separate filing that "Boeing should be required to pay a substantial fine which recognizes the value of each of the 346 people killed, the substantial harm to others and pay a fine which is consistent with fines paid by other corporate criminal defendants."

To back their request, the families cited O'Connor's statement from the February 2023 ruling, which read that "Boeing’s crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in US history."