Opening arguments are set to begin in Chicago on Wednesday in the first civil trial against US aerospace giant Boeing, stemming from the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX disaster that claimed 157 lives. The move follows a full day of jury selection in a closely watched case that could have far-reaching implications for the aviation industry.
Eight jurors — five women and three men — were chosen on Monday at the federal court in Chicago to hear the case. They will decide on lawsuits filed by relatives of 155 victims between April 2019 and March 2021, accusing Boeing of wrongful death, negligence, and other civil violations.
This marks the first time such a case has reached trial, as four previous lawsuits were settled out of court just before proceedings began. Legal experts say a settlement remains possible even as the trial gets underway. Both sides will have 90 minutes each on Wednesday to deliver their opening statements.
Judge Jorge Alonso, who is presiding over all civil cases linked to the 2019 crash, took an active role in jury selection, allowing lawyers from both sides to participate in the process. Robert Clifford, lead counsel for one of the plaintiffs, told AFP: “I think his goal was to get as unbiased a jury as he could obtain. Even if he asked more questions than might be typical, that’s understandable for a case as complex as this — it could easily have taken two days.”
– ‘Battle Lines Are Drawn’ –
Opening arguments had originally been scheduled for Tuesday but were delayed by lengthy jury selection, which took six hours to complete. Around 50 potential jurors crowded into the 19th-floor courtroom of Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse, while members of the public filled the gallery to capacity.
With the jury now empanelled, the likelihood of an out-of-court settlement has diminished, according to Clifford. “The battle lines are drawn, and there’s no active negotiation going on,” he said.
The trial centres on the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed on 10 March 2019, just six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi. All 157 passengers and crew were killed. The two principal plaintiffs are the families of Shikha Garg of New Delhi and Mercy Ndivo of Kenya.
Garg, a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme, was travelling to Nairobi to attend a UN Environment Assembly. She had married just three months earlier and had planned to travel with her husband, who cancelled at the last moment due to work obligations. Garg had previously participated in the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Conference.
Ndivo, an accountant from Kenya, and her husband — who also perished in the crash — left behind a daughter, now nearly eight years old. Ndivo had been returning from London, where she attended her graduation ceremony after earning a master’s degree in accountancy.
Boeing has repeatedly expressed remorse over both the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy and the 2018 Lion Air crash in Indonesia, which killed 189 people on board another 737 MAX aircraft. The company has said it remains committed to resolving claims through settlements where possible.
“Boeing has publicly accepted responsibility for the MAX crashes, both in public and in civil litigation, because the design of the MCAS system contributed to these events,” a company lawyer stated in October last year.
The MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), designed to stabilise flight, was found to have malfunctioned in both accidents, pushing the aircraft’s nose downward and leaving pilots unable to regain control.
Dozens of similar claims were filed following the Lion Air disaster, with nearly all now resolved — save for one remaining case still pending in court.