Chicago Jury Awards $49.5 Million in Boeing 737 MAX Crash

A Chicago jury awarded $49.5 million in damages to the family of a 24-year-old American who died in a 737 MAX crash. The case involved Samya Stumo, a victim of the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, which resulted in 157 fatalities.

The jury reached this decision after approximately two hours of deliberation. Nearly all other civil lawsuits related to the crash were settled out of court. However, Stumo’s family could not reach a settlement with Boeing before the trial started on Monday.

Boeing expressed condolences in a statement: “We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. While we have resolved nearly all of these claims through settlements, families are entitled to pursue their claims through the court process, and we respect their right to do so.”

Stumo was traveling to Kenya for her first assignment with ThinkWell, an NGO focused on improving healthcare access in Africa and Asia. Unfortunately, the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, resulting in the loss of all passengers.

“Rescuers work at the wreckage of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft east of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 10, 2019.” – Getty Images

This crash followed a previous Lion Air crash involving the same Boeing 737 Max 8 model about four and a half months earlier in Indonesia, where 189 people died. Following these crashes, Boeing grounded all 737 Max planes for nearly two years to upgrade necessary systems.

Boeing faced a criminal fraud charge due to the crashes but reached an agreement with federal prosecutors. Boeing agreed to pay over $1.1 billion in fines and $445 million in compensation to victims’ families. This agreement required Boeing to enhance internal safety and quality measures and helped avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before the crashes.