Boeing Faces Harrowing Day in Court as First 737 MAX Crash Trial Begins

After years of delays and private settlements, Boeing is finally having its day in court. The aviation giant heads to trial Monday in Chicago facing allegations over the catastrophic 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people aboard—the first civil case related to this tragedy to reach a jury.

The high-stakes legal showdown comes more than five years after the Boeing 737 MAX plunged from the sky just six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa. But in typical Boeing fashion, the company continues settling cases right up to the courtroom steps.

Last-Minute Drama: Settlements Continue as Trial Begins

In a development that perfectly captures Boeing’s legal strategy, one of the two remaining plaintiffs settled their case late Sunday night, according to judicial sources. This continues the pattern we’ve seen throughout this litigation, with Boeing preferring private settlements over public trials.

“We have had some ongoing discussion that may continue throughout the day and the ensuing days,” revealed Robert Clifford, an attorney representing several victims’ families, during last week’s pre-trial hearing. The message was clear: even as jury selection begins, more settlements could materialize at any moment.

The Lone Case Moving Forward: Environmental Advocate’s Tragic Story

This week’s proceedings will now focus exclusively on the case of Darcy Belanger, a 46-year-old Canadian environmentalist who called Colorado home. As a founding member of the Parvati Foundation, Belanger was en route to a United Nations environmental conference in Nairobi when tragedy struck.

His story represents just one of the 157 lives lost that fateful day—lives that included humanitarian workers, environmental advocates, and families simply traveling for business or pleasure. Behind each lawsuit lies a devastating human toll that no settlement can truly address.

A Pattern of Private Resolutions and Courtroom Avoidance

The numbers tell a compelling story about Boeing’s approach to accountability. Between April 2019 and March 2021, families of 155 victims filed lawsuits against the aviation giant, citing wrongful death, negligence, and other charges. By late March 2024, only 18 cases remained open—and Sunday’s settlement further reduced that number.

This isn’t the first time Boeing has dodged a public trial at the last minute. A similar proceeding scheduled for November was abruptly canceled after Boeing reached an eleventh-hour deal with the family of a female victim. The company seems determined to keep the full details of these cases from public scrutiny.

U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso has organized the remaining lawsuits into small groups, stipulating that a trial will only proceed if at least one case in each group remains unsettled—a structure that gives Boeing multiple opportunities to avoid courtroom confrontations.

The Twin Disasters That Shook Boeing’s Empire

The Ethiopian Airlines disaster wasn’t a standalone incident. It came just five months after a strikingly similar tragedy: the October 2018 Lion Air 737 MAX crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people. These twin catastrophes revealed deeply troubling issues with Boeing’s newest aircraft.

Both crashes were linked to the same culprit—the MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), a software designed to automatically push the aircraft’s nose down in certain flight conditions. As investigations would later reveal, pilots weren’t adequately informed about this system or trained to override it when it malfunctioned.

Boeing’s Reluctant Admission of Responsibility

While the financial terms of Boeing’s settlements remain confidential, the company has publicly accepted responsibility for the MAX crashes. “The US manufacturer has accepted responsibility for the MAX crashes publicly and in civil litigation because the design of the MCAS… contributed to these events,” a Boeing attorney stated during an October hearing.

This admission came after intense regulatory and political scrutiny, congressional hearings, leadership changes, and the unprecedented global grounding of the entire 737 MAX fleet for more than 20 months. Boeing eventually revised the problematic MCAS software, and the aircraft returned to service in November 2020 after FAA approval.

Boeing’s Legal Troubles Far From Over

Even as Boeing works to resolve the civil litigation in Chicago, another legal storm is brewing in Texas. The company faces a potential criminal trial scheduled for June, stemming from a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department related to the MAX crashes.

Federal prosecutors recently accused Boeing of violating the terms of that agreement following a January 2024 incident when an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX made an emergency landing due to a mid-air panel failure. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor subsequently rejected a proposed settlement between Boeing and the Justice Department, ordering a jury trial to begin on June 23.

Will Justice Finally Be Served?

As jury selection begins today in Chicago, the question remains: Will Boeing face true public accountability for one of commercial aviation’s most tragic chapters? Or will the company continue its pattern of private settlements and closed-door resolutions?

For Darcy Belanger’s family and the loved ones of 156 other victims, this trial represents more than just financial compensation—it’s about exposing the truth behind decisions that led to catastrophic consequences. Whether that truth will fully emerge in a courtroom remains to be seen.

Whatever the outcome, this case stands as a sobering reminder of the human cost when corporate practices prioritize profits over safety, and the long, difficult road to justice for victims of corporate negligence.