Family members of the 346 passengers who lost their lives in two Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashes are seeking to block a plea deal that was reached by Boeing and the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to the victims’ families, the plea deal is inadequate and morally indefensible.
The two fatal crashes in 2019 brought Boeing under intense scrutiny, resulting in a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the government that included a hefty $2.5 billion settlement. This settlement was meant to address Boeing’s alleged misconduct, which included misleading statements after the crashes and omissions in security standards that contributed to the tragedies.
In January, an unrelated incident involving an Alaska Airlines Boeing jet highlighted ongoing safety concerns when a door plug malfunctioned mid-flight, causing a dangerous emergency landing, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the door plug incident revealed that Boeing had violated the terms of the earlier DPA, further complicating the company’s legal troubles.
The recent plea agreement proposed by Boeing and the DOJ includes a guilty plea in relation to the deaths of the 346 passengers, a fine of $243.6 million, and a commitment to spend $455 million on improving safety and compliance. However, the legal representatives of the victims’ families argue that the deal fails to reflect the gravity of Boeing’s actions and the true extent of the harm caused, according to a report by The Texan.
In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge connected to the two deadly plane crashes. Although the total proposed fine was first set at $487.2 million, Boeing may only pay half, as it could get credit for a $243.6 million penalty imposed in 2021 for a previous settlement breach.
On August 23, attorneys representing the victims’ families filed a motion urging Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District Court of Texas to reject the plea deal. They claim that the agreement unfairly limits the court’s ability to impose an appropriate sentence and effectively shields Boeing from further accountability for other flight problems or future crashes.
“The proposed plea deal is not only deceptive but morally reprehensible because it fails to hold Boeing accountable for killing 346 people,” Paul Cassell, one of the attorneys for the victims’ families, said in a recent press release.
“A judge can reject a plea deal that is not in the public interest, and this misleading and unfair deal is clearly against the public interest. The families ask Judge O’Connor to use his recognized authority to reject this inappropriate plea and airbrushed factual account of what happened,” Cassell added.
The families’ legal team contends that the plea deal, by design, prevents O’Connor from devising a sentence that truly reflects the seriousness of the offenses and the lives lost in the crashes. They also describe the agreement as an attempt to “airbrush” the facts and obscure Boeing’s direct responsibility for the tragic loss of life.