Boeing reaches settlement with man whose family died in 737 Max crash

Boeing (NYSE:BA) reached a confidential settlement with Paul Njoroge, a Toronto resident who lost his wife, three young children, and mother-in-law in the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, his attorney confirmed Friday, according to several news reports.

The agreement was reached just days before a scheduled trial in Chicago that would have marked the first courtroom confrontation over the pair of deadly 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019, which claimed a total of 346 lives. Boeing previously avoided another trial in April by settling with the families of two additional victims from the same Ethiopian Airlines tragedy.

The aerospace giant didn’t comment to Reuters on the latest resolution. The crashes led to the global grounding of the 737 Max for 20 months and triggered more than $20 billion in financial fallout for the company.

According to Boeing (NYSE:BA), over 90% of related civil claims have now been resolved through settlements, deferred prosecution agreements and other legal mechanisms.

Meanwhile, attorney Robert Clifford is preparing for a separate trial set for November, representing the families of six additional victims. Earlier this month, Boeing (BA) and the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal judge to approve a controversial plea deal that would shield the company from prosecution, a move strongly opposed by some of the victims’ families.

The deal stems from a 2024 criminal fraud charge alleging Boeing (BA) misled regulators about a critical flight control system implicated in both crashes. If approved, the agreement would prevent the company from being labeled a convicted felon and spare it from outside oversight for three years.