Judge Allows Plane Crash Victims to Continue With Boeing 737 Max Lawsuit

• Author: Chris Remington
• Posted: 2024-06-12

When multiple Boeing 737 Max airplanes crashed over the course of a few months, the world was shocked. Due to errors with the plane's new software, fatal crashes ended up killing 346 people. At the time, many people believed that such a huge mistake was inexcusable and pointed out that someone in the company had to be held responsible. Three years after the crash, some victims still fight to get compensation.

Judge Allows Lawsuit by Shareholders to Proceed

The ongoing lawsuit against the board of Boeing has involved a lot of controversy. Though most agree that there is a legal precedent for victims to sue the company, there has been some disagreement about who the victims are. Boeing has already faced some lawsuits from the families of people killed by their plane, but the most recent suit comes from Boeing shareholders themselves.

When the lawsuit was first filed, Boeing moved to dismiss it on the grounds that shareholders do not have the right to sue the company they own a stake in. However, Delaware judge Morgan Zurn ruled to let the lawsuit proceed. In this ruling, Zurn does acknowledge that the main victims are those who lost their lives in the crash.

However, Zurn notes that the massive loss of life does not completely negate the possibility of other losses. As noted by the plaintiffs, Boeing shareholders also lost massive amounts of money when the crash caused Boeing planes to be grounded. Therefore, there is enough clear evidence of a loss to allow the lawsuit to proceed.

Ruling States That Boeing "Ignored Red Flags" About the Aircraft

The September 2021 ruling is not the final ruling in the case. The plaintiffs will still need to present evidence showing that the Boeing board behaved negligently and caused them to unnecessarily lose a lot of money. However, the court's response to the initial filing shows that the plaintiffs may be likely to win.

The ruling notes that there were several obvious red flags that the board knew of but ignored. When the first Boeing 737 crashed and killed all 189 people aboard, there was an immediate reason for concern. However, the board failed to create any sort of investigation or even ask management about the causes for the crash. Furthermore, the timeline shows that the Boeing board publicly lied about whether or not they were monitoring the safety of the 737 Max. This prevented the planes from being grounded, allowing the second crash that killed 157 people.

Now that the court has allowed the lawsuit to proceed and acknowledged that negligence most likely occurred, the plaintiffs will have more of an opportunity to present evidence of the Boeing board's alleged wrongdoing. Since the board has already faced several criminal investigations, there is a lot of material to include in the suit. Though the case appears to be fairly cut and dry, things still need to follow regular legal guidelines. This means that it may still be a while before the Boeing shareholders get any compensation.

Lawsuit Could Mean More Financial Losses for the Company

This lawsuit is just the latest in the long list of fines and consequences Boeing has faced following the crashes. Their role in the crashes has been widely criticized due to the improper testing of new software systems, the lack of oversight following the crashes, and attempts to obscure later investigations.

Ultimately, the company has faced multiple fines due to criminal charges, and they have also had to pay other victims a lot of money in compensation. Due to the fact that all people aboard both flights died, the compensation was not for medical bills or other similar injuries. Instead, it was wrongful death settlements meant to compensate the families of the victims for their pain, suffering, and loss of earnings. Altogether, the company has had to pay $2.5 billion for their behavior following the crashes.

In addition to these losses, the company also lost a massive amount of money due to the changes in their industry. They had to halt the production and sales of the new Boeing 737 Max airplane. The crash also negatively impacted their reputation, resulting in many companies choosing to work with other airplane producers and their stock plummeting. These financial losses are the ones that the shareholders are focusing on in their lawsuit. If they can plead their case effectively, they may be able to recoup some of these losses directly from the Boeing board.