Verdict Reached in Landmark Boeing 737 MAX Civil Trial
A federal jury in the United States has delivered a significant verdict, ordering aviation giant Boeing to pay $28.45 million to the family of a victim from the tragic Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019. This decision marks the conclusion of the first civil trial related to the fatal Boeing 737 MAX accidents.
The case was brought by the survivors of Shikha Garg, a consultant from New Delhi who died in the crash. The Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 disaster was one of two MAX crashes that together claimed 346 lives.
Jury Deliberation and Breakdown of Compensation
After deliberating for approximately two hours, the jury in a Chicago federal court determined the compensation package. The $28.45 million award included $10 million for the family's grief and another $10 million for Garg's pain and suffering before her death, with the remainder covering other compensatory damages.
Soumya Bhattacharya, Garg's widower, expressed acceptance of the outcome. "We happily accept the verdict. We came here for a jury trial and it's absolutely acceptable," he told AFP.
While Boeing had accepted responsibility for the crash and acknowledged its liability to pay damages, the trial was solely to determine the amount. The plaintiff's attorneys had argued for a sum between $80 and $230 million, whereas Boeing's counsel had proposed a settlement of $11.95 million.
Courtroom Apology and Legal Arguments
During the proceedings, Boeing's attorney, Dan Webb, publicly expressed the company's remorse, turning to Bhattacharya in the courtroom to offer a direct apology. "We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302," a Boeing spokesperson stated after the verdict.
Webb emphasized to the jury that their task was to decide on a "fair and reasonable amount of damages" based solely on compensation, not punishment. He argued that the multi-million dollar figures requested by the plaintiff's attorney, Shanin Specter, were not reasonable compensation but an attempt to punish the company.
In his closing statement, Specter highlighted the profound loss of Garg's potential. He was a brilliant young professional working with the United Nations Development Program, traveling to a UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi when the plane went down. The court heard how she had been married for just three months, and her husband had canceled his flight last minute due to a meeting.
The Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed on March 10, 2019, just six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board. This case was the first to go to trial after Boeing reached numerous out-of-court settlements with other families affected by the MAX crashes.
