Boeing 737 MAX Legally Considered “Crime Victims” in Fatal Crashes

(CTN News) – On Friday, a U.S. judge ruled that the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes are ‘crime victims’, which determines remedies.

In December, relatives of crash victims said the US Justice Department violated their legal rights by deferring prosecution of the planemaker over two crashes that killed 346 people.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ordered Boeing to be arraigned on felony charges and revoke Boeing’s immunity from criminal prosecution – which was part of the $2.5 billion agreement. The families argued the government “lied and violated their rights through a secret process.”

According to O’Connor, “but for Boeing’s criminal conspiracy to defraud the FAA, 346 people would not have died in the crashes.”

In his statement, Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said the ruling was “a tremendous victory” and “sets the stage for a pivotal hearing where we will present proposed remedies to hold Boeing fully accountable.”

Boeing didn’t comment right away.

Attorney General Merrick Garland met with some of the families after they filed a lawsuit alleging their rights were violated under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

However, he stayed by the plea deal, which included a $244 million fine, $1.77 billion compensation for airlines, and a $500 million crash victim fund.

This deal wraps up a 21-month investigation into the design and development of the Boeing 737 MAX after deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

MCAS was linked to both fatal crashes and designed to counter a tendency of the MAX to pitch up, which Boeing didn’t tell the FAA about.

In Ethiopia and Indonesia, pilots would have had “sufficient training to respond to the MCAS activation that occurred on both aircraft” if Boeing hadn’t committed its crime, O’Connor said.

More than $20 billion has been lost since the crashes forced Boeing to ground its best-selling plane.

Boeing has lost more than $20 billion in compensation, production costs, and fines since the crashes forced the best-selling plane to be grounded for 20 months.

Boeing wants Congress to waive a December deadline for FAA certification of the MAX 7 and MAX 10.

After that date, all planes must have modern cockpit alerting systems, which the 737 doesn’t have.

Boeing paid $200 million to settle SEC charges it misled investors about the MAX.

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