The first U.S. civil trial tied to the March 10, 2019 Boeing 737 MAX crash begins its opening statements after jurors were selected. Families of 155 victims sued Boeing, alleging wrongful death and negligence; the hearing will focus on compensation and Boeing's role, particularly the MCAS software. Each side has 90 minutes for openings, and an out-of-court settlement remains possible even after the trial starts.
Opening Statements Begin in First U.S. Civil Trial Over Boeing 737 MAX Ethiopian Airlines Crash
The first U.S. civil trial tied to the March 10, 2019 Boeing 737 MAX crash begins its opening statements after jurors were selected. Families of 155 victims sued Boeing, alleging wrongful death and negligence; the hearing will focus on compensation and Boeing's role, particularly the MCAS software. Each side has 90 minutes for openings, and an out-of-court settlement remains possible even after the trial starts.
13:43, 04.11.2025Economy
Opening statements set to begin in Chicago
Attorneys for Boeing and relatives of victims from the March 10, 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash will deliver opening statements on Tuesday in the first U.S. civil trial tied to the disaster. Jurors were selected Monday; an eight-person panel will hear the case about the flight that crashed six minutes after departing Addis Ababa for Nairobi, killing all 157 people aboard.
Claims and plaintiffs: Families representing 155 victims filed lawsuits between April 2019 and March 2021, asserting claims that include wrongful death and negligence. The two lead plaintiffs this week are the families of Shikha Garg of New Delhi and Mercy Ndivo of Kenya.
Garg was a consultant with the United Nations Development Programme traveling to a UN Environment Assembly. She had married three months earlier; her husband canceled his ticket at the last minute for a work commitment. Ndivo and her husband, who also died in the crash, left behind a daughter who is now nearly eight years old. Ndivo had returned from London after attending a graduation ceremony where she earned a Masters in Accountancy.
Trial logistics and stakes: Each side has been allotted 90 minutes to present opening statements on Tuesday. While the courtroom proceeding is intended to determine the compensation owed by Boeing to victims' relatives, attorneys say an out-of-court settlement remains possible even after trial begins. The hearing is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. CT in Chicago (1530 GMT).
Background on MCAS and Boeing's stance: Boeing has expressed that it is deeply sorry for the Ethiopian Airlines disaster and for a separate Lion Air 737 MAX crash in Indonesia in 2018 that killed 189 people. A company lawyer told courts in October that Boeing had accepted responsibility publicly and in civil litigation because the design of the MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) contributed to those accidents. The MCAS flight-stabilizing software was implicated in both crashes.
On four prior occasions in related litigation, parties reached last-minute settlements that averted trials; only one of several Lion Air lawsuits remains open. This trial marks the first time family plaintiffs and Boeing will present their opening accounts in a U.S. courtroom over the Ethiopian crash.
What to watch: Opening statements will frame how plaintiffs and Boeing present causation, responsibility and the amount of damages, and could set the stage for further settlement talks during the trial.