The US court denies the family’s request to reopen the Boeing 737 Max crash case – National
A United States appeals court has rejected a request by dozens of families who lost relatives in two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes to reopen a criminal case against the plane manufacturer.
Attorneys for the families had argued that the Justice Department failed to properly consult with them before reaching a settlement last year with Boeing that led to a lower court’s dismissal of a conspiracy charge against the company. The lawsuit stems from allegations that Boeing misled federal regulators about the flight control system related to the crashes, which killed 346 people.
In a unanimous decision issued Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals said it disagreed with the families’ claims that federal prosecutors violated their rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act and therefore could not reopen the case.
Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, called the decision “grossly wrong.”
“Today’s decision means Boeing is getting away with killing 346 people,” Cassell said Tuesday in a statement. “The families of the victims were not given a significant opportunity to repair the negotiations between the Department of Justice and Boeing, beginning in 2020.”
Boeing said Tuesday it had no comment, but during a hearing last month in New Orleans before an appeals court, company attorney Paul Clement said more than 60 families “strongly supported” the deal and dozens did not object.
“Boeing deeply regrets” the fatal accidents, Clement said, and “has taken extraordinary steps to improve its internal systems and has paid substantial compensation” to the victims’ families.
The agreement allowed Boeing to avoid prosecution to pay or invest an additional $1.1 billion in fines, compensation to victims’ families, and internal safety and quality measures.
During the same hearing, federal prosecutors told jurors that the government has for years “solicited and considered the views of the families of the victims of the accident in deciding whether and how to prosecute the Boeing Company.”
All passengers and crew died when 737 Max jets crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019 – the Lion Air plane that crashed into the sea off the coast of Indonesia and the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed in the field shortly after takeoff. 18 Canadians were on board the Ethiopian Airlines flight.
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The criminal case had taken many turns. The Justice Department began suing Boeing in 2021 for defrauding the government but agreed not to prosecute if the company paid restitution and took steps to comply with anti-fraud laws.
Federal prosecutors later ruled in 2024 that Boeing violated that agreement, and the company agreed to plead guilty. But US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas, who has presided over the case for years, rejected the request and ordered the two sides to resume negotiations.
The Justice Department came back last May with a new plea deal and a request to drop the criminal case entirely, which O’Connor approved in November. The Justice Department said the trial posed a risk that a judge could acquit Boeing entirely, leaving the company unpunished.
Dismissing the case, O’Connor said federal prosecutors did not make a mistake and explained their decision and fulfilled their obligations under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
O’Connor also said case law prevents him from blocking the firing simply because he disagrees with the government’s view that the new deal with Boeing was in the public interest.
The case centered on software developed by Boeing for the 737 Max, which the airlines first flew in 2017. Boeing billed it as an update to its 737 family that would not require additional pilot training.
But the Max included some significant changes, some of which Boeing downplayed — in particular, the addition of an automatic flight control system designed to help account for the plane’s larger engines. Boeing did not mention the system in the flight manuals, and many pilots did not know about it.
In both fatal crashes, that software brought the plane’s nose down repeatedly based on faulty readings from one assistant, and the pilots flying Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines were unable to regain control. After the Ethiopian crash, flights were grounded worldwide for 20 months.
Investigators found that Boeing did not inform key Federal Aviation Administration staff about changes it had made to the software before regulators set Max pilot training requirements and issued the plane’s flight certificate.
“One can only hope that another Boeing accident will not be the result of this flawed decision,” Cassell, the families’ attorney, said Tuesday.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
