DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that Boeing Co. charged with a felony in connection with the crash of two 737 Max aircraft. The ruling threatens to sever an agreement Boeing made to avoid prosecution.
The Texas judge’s decision came after relatives of some of the victims said the government violated their rights by reaching a settlement with Boeing without prior notice to the families.
US District Court Judge Reed O’Connor ordered Boeing to send a representative to a Fort Worth courtroom on Jan. 26 to file charges.
Paul Cassell, a lawyer for relatives of some of the 346 people who died in the accidents, said: “Families look forward to taking on the company responsible for the deaths of their loved ones at a hearing next week.”
A Boeing spokesman said the company had no comment. The Justice Department, which has fought against the reopening of the settlement, did not immediately comment.
Last year, O’Connor ruled that relatives of plane crash victims were crime victims under federal law and should have been consulted before the Justice Department agreed to a deal in which Boeing paid $2.5 billion to avoid prosecution. in a federal regulatory fraud case. who approved the 737 Max.
Much of the money from the settlement went to airlines, which were unable to operate their Max aircraft for almost two years after aircraft were grounded around the world. Boeing agreed to pay a $243.6 million fine and set up a $500 million fund to compensate the families of the victims.
Max’s first passenger flight took place in May 2017. The disasters occurred in October 2018 in Indonesia and less than five months later in Ethiopia.
Both planes have an automated flight control system that Boeing did not initially tell the airlines about, and the pilots lowered their nose due to erroneous readings from a single sensor on the fuselage. The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared Max jets to resume flights in late 2020 after Boeing changed the flight system.
The plane crashes led to a congressional investigation that was heavily criticized by both Boeing and the FAA. Congress has made changes to how the FAA will certify aircraft in the future.
