Judge allows Boeing shareholders to pursue class action over 737 MAX safety issues
A judge certified a class action lawsuit allowing Boeing shareholders to sue over alleged safety issues with the 737 MAX, leading to two fatal crashes.Summary
A federal judge has allowed Boeing shareholders to proceed with a class action lawsuit alleging the company concealed safety deficiencies in its 737 MAX aircraft before the two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. Judge Franklin Valderrama ruled that shareholders who owned Boeing stock between November 7, 2018, and October 18, 2019, could sue as a group, establishing a common method for calculating damages.
The lawsuit claims Boeing rushed the development of the 737 MAX, disregarded employee safety warnings, and misled the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to maintain market share against Airbus. The plaintiffs, including pension funds and private investors, point to the Lion Air crash in October 2018 (189 fatalities) and the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019 (157 fatalities) as evidence of Boeing’s negligence.
Boeing previously agreed to pay over US$2.5 billion to settle a U.S. Department of Justice criminal charge related to conspiring to defraud the FAA regarding the 737 MAX’s safety. This new class action is separate from another lawsuit concerning the January 2024 Alaska Airlines mid-air cabin panel blowout.
(Source：The Globe and Mail)