Boeing Reaches Confidential Settlement with One Family as 737 MAX Trial Moves Forward in Chicago

Boeing reaches last-minute settlement with one family as trial continues

Boeing reached a confidential, last-minute settlement with relatives of Mercy Ndivo during the civil trial in Chicago stemming from the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash that killed 157 people, attorneys announced. The settlement removes one of two plaintiffs from this week's proceedings and leaves a single case to be decided by the jury.

The litigation centers on how to calculate monetary damages owed to victims' families. Boeing's defense team has acknowledged the company should compensate victims but disputes the amount sought by plaintiffs. Opening statements were briefly delayed while plaintiffs' counsel, Robert Clifford, informed the court of the confidential agreement involving Ndivo's family.

"Our clients are very appreciative of the court allowing them to use its resources to achieve the justice they required," Clifford said. He declined to disclose the settlement amount.

During the hearing, Mercy Ndivo's father, Frederick Ndivo, approached U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso to thank the court. Ndivo, who was 28 when she died along with her husband on the March 10, 2019 flight that crashed six minutes after departing Addis Ababa for Nairobi, is survived by a daughter and her parents.

Other settlements

Clifford said he also reached confidential settlements with relatives of two other victims: Abdul Jalil Qaid Ghazi Hussein, 38, a father of seven, and Nasrudin Mohammed, 30, who was pregnant with a fourth child. Judge Alonso has been managing the broader litigation by hearing cases in small groups of five or six plaintiffs, sometimes canceling trials when all cases in a group settle.

Remaining case: the family of Shikha Garg

The lone remaining case before the jury represents the relatives of Shikha Garg of New Delhi, a United Nations Development Programme consultant who was traveling to Nairobi for a UN Environmental Assembly. In opening remarks, plaintiffs' attorney Shanin Specter described Garg as "beautiful, inside and out," and portrayed her as an accomplished young woman who had married her partner, Soumya Bhattacharya, three months before the crash.

A wedding photo shown in court depicted the couple in traditional Indian attire. Bhattacharya told jurors he and Garg had planned to start a family and that he now fears flying, particularly on Boeing-built aircraft. "It's one of the biggest remorse in my life that I had not been able to be with her," he said.

What the jury must decide

The jury will determine damages across four categories: projected lifetime earnings lost by Garg, compensation for any trauma she suffered before the crash, fair compensation for Bhattacharya's loss of companionship, and damages tied to his grief and emotional harm. "Mr. Bhattacharya is not here for your sympathy. He is here for justice," Specter told jurors.

In his opening statement, Boeing defense attorney Dan Webb said he did not contest Boeing's overall responsibility for the accident but urged jurors to limit awards to amounts supported by the evidence, disputing the plaintiffs' valuation of pre-crash injuries and other claims. "Boeing agrees with Mr. Specter that Boeing should pay significant compensation," Webb said. "We disagree on the actual amount."

The trial continues as the court and parties await the jury's consideration of damages in the remaining case.