Judge rejects offer from families of plane crash victims to drop deal, allowing Boeing to avoid prosecution

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U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor has rejected a proposal from the families of the victims of the two Boeing 737 Max crashes to void the deal. a new plane that investigators believe caused the crashes.

In January 2021, the same day that the criminal case against the company was announced, federal prosecutors entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the company. It requires Boeing to pay nearly $250 million in fines and set up a $500 million fund for relatives of the crash victims, as well as attending compliance meetings with the government for three years. If Boeing complies with the terms of the agreement, the government will drop the charges and the company will be protected from criminal prosecution.

The families of those killed in the plane crash called the deal a “love deal” and say it was done behind closed doors and without their input. In an emotional indictment last month, the families described the agony of losing their loved ones in plane crashes they later learned could have been avoided by properly training pilots for the new aircraft.

The researchers found that design changes were kept to a minimum to avoid the cost of such training, leaving pilots unaware of a new flight control feature that could automatically activate during takeoff, which happened during two plane crashes in 2018 and 2019. years. in Indonesia and Ethiopia. “For a few dollars more, Boeing committed the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history,” Paul Cassel, the families’ lawyer, told the judge last month.

In the ruling, O’Connor said the facts did not support the argument that Boeing posed an ongoing threat to public safety and that he did not have the authority to oversee the agreement between Boeing and federal prosecutors. O’Connor found that “it is true that the government violated the rights of victims of crime” under the Victims of Crime Rights Act, but that the government acted in “good faith” and that it was not required to “disclose certain information” of the family.

Cassell, the families’ attorney, says they will appeal the decision to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Boeing and the Department of Justice [Department of Justice] worked out an illegal and covert plea deal without any opportunity for families to discuss it, which is required by the Crime Victims Rights Act,” Cassell said in a statement. “We are optimistic that our appeal will protect the rights of the families in this case and ensure that deals like this are never made in secret and without the participation of the victims again.”

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