Boeing reaches settlement of US case on 737 MAX crash

Bangla Press Desk:  Boeing reached a last-minute settlement with a Canadian who lost multiple relatives in a 737 MAX crash in 2019, averting a trial, the plaintiff's attorney announced on Wednesday.

A Chicago federal court was expected to hear opening arguments Wednesday after a jury was selected this week. But the two sides reached a deal Tuesday night on the civil case, said Clifford Law Offices.

Financial terms were not disclosed in the agreement, which Clifford's press release called an "11th hour" accord.

The case was brought by Manant Vaidya, whose sister Kosha and parents Pannagesh and Hansini Vaidya, perished in the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 in all.

Vaidya also lost his brother-in-law and two young nieces. Relatives of these victims sued Boeing separately in a case that was settled out of court in July 2025.

"Boeing accepted full responsibility for the senseless and preventable loss of these innocent lives, and this corporate giant has now been held accountable to this family, especially to this good man who lost his dear mom, dad, and sister," said Robert Clifford.

Boeing has apologized for the disaster and for a fatal Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October 2018. The MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) flight stabilizing software was implicated in both crashes, which together claimed 346 lives.

In November, a US jury in the same Chicago courthouse determined that Boeing must pay $28.45 million to the family of an Indian victim.

BP/SP