Boeing has agreed to settle in the deadly 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia, on the eve of the first trial after the fatal 2019 crash.
Lawyers for the relatives of two victims in that deadly Ethiopian Air crash were in Chicago for the start of the trial.
But late last night, they reached a settlement with the aerospace giant. It took six years for the families to get to this point.
And it comes nearly five years after Boeing accepted legal responsibility for the deadly crash. Still, the first trial in this case was to start today.
“This morning, I expected we would be picking a jury,” Lindquist said. “But late last night, the case finally resolved.”
Tacoma-based lawyer Mark Lindquist was in Chicago for what was to be the start of the first trial in the deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash.
The 737 Max 8 had just taken off from the airport in Addis Ababa when it crashed in March 2019. Forty-six-year-old Darcy Belanger and 39-year-old Antoine Lewis were among the 157 people who died that day.
Attorney Lindquist says Belanger’s widow agreed to the settlement because it shows Boeing is taking responsibility.
“And the closure,” said Lindquist. “Time for her to move on with her life.”
Less than five months earlier, a 737 Max 8 jet crashed into the Java Sea, killing everyone on board. These two crashes focused a harsh spotlight on the FAA, Boeing, and its MCAS system, blamed for putting the Max 8s into a fatal nosedive.
Just last week, Boeing’s CEO was still defending the company’s safety record.
“I’ve talked to our airline customers,” Kelly Ortberg told Congress. “They’re frustrated with us because we’re late on aircraft delivery, as you pointed out. But they also know we have to do this right.”
In a statement, Boeing offered its condolences. “We made an upfront commitment to fully and fairly compensate the families and accepted legal responsibility for the accidents,” the statement continued. “We will continue to work to fairly resolve the claims of the family members.”
Mark Lindquist said he could not tell us how much money Boeing is paying to settle these two cases, but the aerospace giant revealed it has paid out billions of dollars in compensation to the families and their lawyers.
Lindquist says the message to Boeing is that safety should always come first.
©2025 Cox Media Group
