North Carolina residents may be aware that two deadly crashes have raised concerns about the safety of Boeing’s new 737 MAX airliner. The most recent accident occurred on March 10 when Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed just six minutes after taking off. All of the plane’s 157 occupants perished in the accident. The tragedy came only five months after a 737 MAX crashed into the Java Sea 12 minutes after taking to the air. That accident claimed the lives of all 189 people on board.
The two fatal accidents prompted aviation authorities to ground 737 MAX aircraft around the world, and they have also led to several wrongful death lawsuits being filed against the plane’s Washington-based manufacturer. The latest such lawsuit was filed on behalf of an Ethiopian man who lost his brother on flight 302. The litigation alleges that Boeing knew that the automated systems fitted to the 737 MAX were problematic but chose to hide the flaws to avoid losing sales to their European competitor Airbus.
According to an Associated Press report, the Boeing CEO admitted that the 737’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System likely malfunctioned before both accidents. The plaintiffs behind the wrongful death lawsuits claim that Boeing did not take these problems seriously enough, and they are seeking punitive as well as compensatory damages to deter other companies from placing profits above the safety of the flying public.
Calculating damages is an important step when preparing wrongful death litigation. The families of those killed due to the negligent actions of others are often left in dire financial situations because of the loss of a breadwinner’s paycheck, and personal injury attorneys with experience in this area may take great care to ensure that they seek sufficient damages to compensate victims for this lost income.
Source: Newsy, Boeing Faces Another Wrongful Death Lawsuit After 737 MAX Crashes, James Packard, April 8, 2019