Boeing has reached a last-minute settlement with the families of two victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, averting a civil trial scheduled to begin on Monday, April 14, 2025, in Chicago. The 2019 crash, which occurred on March 10 near Bishoftu (Debre Zeit), Ethiopia, claimed the lives of all 157 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. This disaster, alongside the October 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 crash that killed 189 people, led to a 20-month global grounding of the 737 MAX fleet and triggered widespread scrutiny of Boeing’s design processes and safety practices.
The settlement, finalized on Sunday, April 6, 2025, resolves two specific lawsuits that were set to be the focus of the upcoming trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. While the exact terms remain confidential, attorneys from Clifford Law Offices, representing the plaintiffs, confirmed the agreement to AFP. This follows Boeing’s broader efforts to resolve litigation stemming from the crash, with the company having previously settled most of the related cases. In November 2021, Boeing acknowledged liability for compensatory damages in lawsuits filed by Flight 302 victims’ families, agreeing not to pursue punitive damages in exchange for keeping the cases under Illinois jurisdiction.
The Ethiopian Airlines crash was attributed to a flaw in the 737 MAX’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which repeatedly forced the plane’s nose downward due to erroneous sensor data. Investigations revealed Boeing had withheld critical information about MCAS from pilots and regulators, contributing to both MAX crashes. The company has since paid over $20 billion in fines, compensation, and legal costs, including a $2.5 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in January 2021, which comprised a $243.6 million criminal penalty, $1.77 billion for airline customers, and a $500 million fund for crash victims’ families.
Despite these efforts, some relatives remain dissatisfied. Robert Clifford, lead counsel for many Flight 302 families, noted that while the majority of the 157 victims’ cases have settled, a few families continue to push for a public trial, seeking greater accountability for what they view as Boeing’s negligence. “Some want a public reckoning of Boeing’s actions,” Clifford told The Seattle Times in April 2024, a sentiment echoed in recent statements following the latest settlement.
Since the MAX’s return to service in December 2020, Boeing has implemented software fixes for MCAS and enhanced pilot training protocols. Ethiopian Airlines resumed flying the MAX in 2022 and ordered 20 more in 2023, signaling regained confidence. However, Boeing’s legal challenges persist, including shareholder lawsuits and a separate criminal case tied to a breached 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, reopened after a January 2025 Alaska Airlines MAX 9 incident.
This settlement marks a significant step in closing the civil litigation chapter of the Flight 302 tragedy, though Boeing’s broader accountability and safety culture remain under scrutiny as the company navigates ongoing regulatory and public pressure.
