New York (AFP) – Boeing is scheduled to return to court Monday to face its latest lawsuit over a deadly 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia, brought by the family of a young American NGO worker. Barring a last-minute settlement, the case will go before a federal court in Chicago, with jury selection expected Monday and Tuesday and opening statements Wednesday.
Samya Stumo was killed in the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, when she was en route to Kenya for her first assignment with ThinkWell, a public health NGO that aimed to increase access to health care in Africa and Asia. But the plane went down shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, killing everyone aboard. The Ethiopian crash followed a Lion Air crash about four and a half months earlier in Indonesia. The two crashes claimed 346 lives in total. Boeing acknowledged that anti-stall software was implicated in both accidents.
The plane maker initially faced 155 civil cases alleging wrongful death and negligence, among other claims, but it has settled the vast majority of claims. The few cases that have gone to trial, including Stumo’s, are not intended to determine criminal liability but rather to determine the financial compensation due to the victims’ relatives. The disasters led to congressional hearings, with irate lawmakers demanding answers, and to leadership shake-ups at the aviation company.
The 737 MAX crashes marked the start of a long downturn at Boeing that resulted in annual losses each year between 2018 and 2024. However, the company has shown signs of improvement under CEO Kelly Ortberg, who has said more work must be done to win back credibility. In November, a Chicago jury awarded $28.45 million to the widower of Shikha Garg of New Delhi, who died in the Ethiopian crash. A second trial that got underway in January ended with an out-of-court settlement that was not made public.
Stumo’s parents have emerged as vocal critics of Boeing and have advocated for tougher government aviation safety oversight. Her mother, Nadia Milleron, a niece of consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, is running for Congress as an independent. Stumo’s father, Michael Stumo, works on economic policy for the Office of Management and Budget after previously leading the Coalition for a Prosperous America, an advocacy group representing US manufacturers and producers.
© 2024 AFP
