First U.S. Civil Trial Over 2019 Boeing 737 MAX Crash Opens in Chicago

First U.S. Civil Trial Over 2019 Boeing 737 MAX Crash Opens in Chicago

Relatives of victims from the March 10, 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX crash were in a Chicago courtroom Monday as the first U.S. civil trial related to the disaster began.

Jury selection begins; opening statements expected

Proceedings opened with selection of an eight-person jury on Monday morning, with opening statements expected by Tuesday afternoon. The crash, which occurred six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi, killed all 157 people on board.

Consolidated litigation and remaining cases

Relatives of 155 victims filed lawsuits between April 2019 and March 2021 alleging wrongful death, negligence and other claims. While most claims have been resolved through settlements, 11 lawsuits remain active. U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso has been grouping the cases into batches of five or six plaintiffs; prior trial dates were called off when those grouped cases settled.

Central dispute: calculating damages

The core issue in court is how to calculate the monetary damages Boeing should pay to the families — though a settlement remains possible even after trial begins. Boeing issued a statement reiterating its sorrow for both the Ethiopian Airlines crash and the 2018 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people, and said it seeks to resolve claims where possible.

"While we have resolved the vast majority of these claims through settlements, families are also entitled to pursue their claims through damages trials in court, and we respect their right to do so," Boeing said.

Plaintiffs and courtroom comments

The two lead plaintiffs in this round are Shikha Garg, 36, of New Delhi, and Mercy Ndivo, 28, of Kenya. Three alternate plaintiffs listed for the trial are Abdul Jalil Qaid Ghazi Hussein, 38, a father of seven; Nasrudin Mohammed, 30, who was pregnant with her fourth child; and Michael Ryan of Ireland.

Boeing attorney Dan Webb told the court on Oct. 29 that the parties remain far apart on a settlement. "Both sides seem to agree we're really far apart," Webb said. Robert Clifford, lead counsel for the Ndivo family and an attorney for many MAX victims, told the court he expects the two scheduled cases to proceed as planned.

Human stories behind the filings

Garg worked as a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme and was traveling to Nairobi to attend a UN Environment Assembly. She had married three months earlier; her husband canceled his ticket at the last minute because of a work commitment. Garg had participated in the landmark 2015 U.N. climate talks in Paris.

Ndivo and her husband were traveling together and left behind a daughter who is now nearly eight years old. Ndivo had been returning from London after attending a graduation ceremony for her master's degree in accountancy.

What to watch: The trial will focus on expert testimony and competing methods for calculating economic and non-economic damages. Observers say the proceedings could still produce a settlement, but the immediate outlook suggests the parties are far apart on valuation.

Reporters: elm-jmb/sla