‘Very disappointing’: Attorney for victim’s families upset with DOJ letting Boeing avoid prosecution

The Justice Department has reached a deal with Boeing that will allow the airplane giant to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people, according to court papers filed Friday.

Local aviation attorney Mark Lindquist, who worked with the victim’s families, was disheartened by the agreement.

“Not surprising, very disappointing,” Lindquist said via a news release.

Under the “agreement in principle” that still needs to be finalized, Boeing would pay and invest more than $1.1 billion, including an additional $445 million for the crash victims’ families, the Justice Department said. In return, the department would dismiss the fraud charge in the criminal case against the aircraft manufacturer.

“Ultimately, in applying the facts, the law, and Department policy, we are confident that this resolution is the most just outcome with practical benefits,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement. “Nothing will diminish the victims’ losses, but this resolution holds Boeing financially accountable, provides finality and compensation for the families and makes an impact for the safety of future air travelers.”

However, Lindquist called the move “beyond a sweetheart deal.”

“Boeing had basically confessed this case,” he said. “Let me say that again. This was a very strong case. Boeing had basically confessed. The Department of Justice was in the driver’s seat. They chose to give Boeing this deal, which lets Boeing largely off the hook for reasons other than the strength of the case.”

Relatives of passengers push for public trial

Many relatives of the passengers who died in the crashes, which took place off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, have spent years pushing for a public trial, the prosecution of former company officials, and more severe financial punishment for Boeing.

“We wanted to see accountability, and more specifically, one of the important aspects of the prosecution should have been an independent monitor,” Lindquist said. “Boeing needs a watchdog. The FAA has clearly failed to be an effective watchdog, and so we were asking the Department of Justice to put an independent monitor in place so we wouldn’t continue to see these quality control problems from Boeing. Families wanted to feel like at least something positive came out of these two crashes and the door plug blowout.”

Boeing was accused of misleading the Federal Aviation Administration about aspects of the Max before the agency certified the plane for flight. Boeing did not tell airlines and pilots about a new software system, called MCAS, that could turn the plane’s nose down without input from pilots if a sensor detected that the plane might go into an aerodynamic stall.

The Max planes crashed after a faulty reading from the sensor pushed the nose down and pilots were unable to regain control. After the second crash, Max jets were grounded worldwide until the company redesigned MCAS to make it less powerful and to use signals from two sensors, not just one.

Boeing avoids prosecution in 2021

Boeing avoided prosecution in 2021 by reaching a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department that included a previous $243.6 million fine.

A year ago, prosecutors said Boeing violated the terms of the 2021 agreement by failing to make promised changes to detect and prevent violations of federal anti-fraud laws. Boeing agreed last July to plead guilty to the felony fraud charge instead of enduring a potentially lengthy public trial.

But in December, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth rejected the plea deal. The judge said the diversity, inclusion and equity, or DEI, policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in picking a monitor to oversee Boeing’s compliance with the agreement.

Contributing: The Assocaited Press; Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest