Boeing settles with families of three 737 MAX crash victims

Boeing has reached settlements with the families of three victims who died in the March 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 — one of two fatal accidents involving the 737 MAX that led to the global grounding of the aircraft.

The settlements relate to the deaths of three passengers with ties to Kenya: Mercy Ngami Ndivo, Abdul Jalil Qaid Ghazi Hussein, and Nasrudin Mohammed. The families were represented by Chicago-based attorney Robert Clifford. Details of the settlement agreements have not been made public.

Boeing has now resolved the majority of civil lawsuits linked to the two 737 MAX crashes, which together claimed 346 lives. The accidents — the Ethiopian Airlines crash in 2019 and the Lion Air crash in October 2018 — were both tied to a flawed automated flight-control system. The grounding of the jet lasted 20 months and cost Boeing more than $20 billion in compensation and related expenses.

While the latest settlements move the company closer to closing a painful chapter, further legal and regulatory issues could still emerge as Boeing continues efforts to rebuild trust in the safety of its aircraft.