Boeing MAX crash in Ethiopia: Trial opens in first US civil case

US aviation giant Boeing had come close to facing a jury on previous occasions in the US. Photo / Getty Images

Relatives of victims in the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 MAX plane operated by Ethiopian Airlines headed to court today for the first civil trial relating to the 2019 calamity.

The US aviation giant had come close to facing a jury on previous occasions in US District Judge Jorge Alonso’s Chicago courtroom, where the cases have been consolidated.

On four prior occasions, attorneys reached last-minute settlements that averted a trial.

But not this time.

The trial got under way this morning, with the selection of an eight-person jury and opening statements are expected by tomorrow afternoon local time.

The trial stems from the March 10, 2019 flight that went down six minutes after departing Addis Ababa for Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.

Family members of 155 victims filed lawsuits between April 2019 and March 2021, alleging wrongful death and negligence, among other claims.

While many cases have been settled, 11 cases remain and are still proceeding.

Alonso has been splitting the cases into groups with five or six plaintiffs at a time. In prior rounds, the judge has cancelled the proceeding after all the cases in the group settled.

‘Far apart’ on settlement

The litigation centres on how to calculate monetary damages owed by Boeing to plaintiffs. The litigation could conceivably be settled during the trial.

Boeing reiterated in a statement that it was “deeply sorry” for the Ethiopian Airlines crash and for a separate 2018 MAX crash on Lion Air that killed 189 people, noting its commitment to settling cases when 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 in a statement.

The two principal plaintiffs in this week’s trial are Shikha Garg, 36, of New Delhi, and Mercy Ndivo, 28, of Kenya.

There are also three other cases on reserve. Those plaintiffs are: Abdul Jalil Qaid Ghazi Hussein, 38, the father of seven children; Nasrudin Mohammed, 30, who was pregnant with a fourth child; and Michael Ryan of Ireland, who was married.

Boeing attorney Dan Webb told the court on October 29 he expected this week’s trial to forward.

“Both sides seem to agree we’re really far apart,” Webb said. “We’re not going to reach some settlement on five cases and, in fact, it doesn’t appear, on any cases.”

Attorney Robert Clifford, the lead attorney for the Ndivo case and who has represented family members of 68 MAX victims, told the court “we are anticipating that the two scheduled cases will go forward as planned [today]”

Garg had been a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme who had been travelling to Nairobi for a UN Environmental Assembly.

She had been married three months earlier and had planned to travel with her husband, who cancelled his flight at the last minute because of a professional meeting. Garg had attended the historic 2015 UN climate talks in Paris.

Ndivo and her husband, with whom she was travelling, were parents of a girl who is now almost 8 years old. She was returning from London, having attended a graduation ceremony after earning a Masters in Accountancy.

– Agence France-Presse