Boeing has been ordered to pay $28 million to the family of a woman who died in a Boeing 737 Max plane in Ethiopia more than six years ago.
The jury in the case reached the verdict on Wednesday on behalf of the relatives of the United Nations consultant, identified as Shikha Garg, after two hours of deliberation. The weeklong trial in Chicago was the first civil trial stemming from the March 2019 incident that killed all 157 people on board Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
Boeing Ordered to Pay $28 Million to Aircraft Crash Victim's Family
In a statement after the jury's verdict was read in court, the family's lawyers, Shanin Specter and Elizabeth Crawford, said they are all gratified by the decision. They said that it provides public accountability for Boeing's wrongful conduct regarding the matter.
On top of the $28 million, Boeing is ordered to pay an additional $3.45 million to Garg's husband, Soumya Bhattacharya, as part of a deal between him and the company that was reached outside of court. With a 26% interest charge, the total amount will come to $35.8 million, according to the New York Post.
In the majority of wrongful death lawsuits that were filed against Boeing in connection with the crash and a 737 Max incident in Indonesia, the company has negotiated pre-trial settlements. However, details of the settlements were confidential and have not been disclosed to the public.
Boeing also apologized on Wednesday to all the victims' families, saying it respects their right to pursue their claims in court. In the latest case, jurors were not tasked with weighing the aircraft manufacturer's liability in the crash, as it has already accepted responsibility. They were only tasked to award damages for matters such as loss of income and grief.
Accepting Responsibility for the Incidents
A spokeswoman for Boeing said that the company was "deeply sorry" to all the people who lost loved ones in the two different crashes. She added that they have already resolved the vast majority of the claims through settlements. Bhattacharya also expressed satisfaction with the result of the case, The Sun reported.
The family's lawyers said that Garg was 32 years old when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which came from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and was heading to Nairobi, Kenya, crashed a few minutes after taking off.
The lawsuit in the case alleged that the 737 Max aircraft was defectively designed and that Boeing failed to warn passengers and the public about the dangers of the plane. The second incident took place five months after that, when Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia, Reuters reported.
Originally published on parentherald.com
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