logo
Family of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett accuse it of hounding him before he committed suicide

Family of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett accuse it of hounding him before he committed suicide

CBS News21-03-2025

The family of a former
Boeing quality control manager
who police say killed himself after lawyers questioned him for days about his whistleblowing on alleged jumbo jet defects are suing the aviation giant.
Boeing subjected John Barnett to a "campaign of harassment, abuse and intimidation intended to discourage, discredit and humiliate him until he would either give up or be discredited," lawyers for the family wrote in a wrongful death lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in South Carolina.
Barnett, 62,
shot himself
March 9, 2024, in Charleston after answering questions from attorneys for several days in relation to a
defamation lawsuit
he had filed against Boeing. He lived in Louisiana.
"Boeing had threatened to break John, and break him it did," the attorneys wrote in court papers on behalf of his family.
Boeing has not yet responded in court filings.
"We are saddened by John Barnett's death and extend our condolences to his family," the company said in a statement this week.
Barnett was a
Boeing employee for 32 years
, working as a quality-control manager before he retired in 2017. In the years after that, he shared his concerns with journalists and became a whistleblower.
"John became concerned when he transferred to Boeing's South Carolina plant in 2010 — quality issues, procedures that wasn't being followed, short cuts that was trying to be taken," his brother Rodney Barnett,
told CBS Morning News
in an exclusive interview in March 2024.
Barnett said he once saw discarded metal shavings near wiring for the flight controls that could have cut the wires and caused a catastrophe. He also noted problems with up to a quarter of the oxygen systems on Boeing's 787 planes.
Barnett shared his concerns with his supervisors and others before leaving Boeing, but according to the lawsuit they responded by ignoring him and then harassing him.
Boeing intentionally gave Barnett inaccurate, poor job reviews and less desirable shifts, according to the lawsuit. Barnett's family argues the company publicly blamed him for delays that angered his co-workers and prevented him from transferring to another plant.
Barnett eventually was diagnosed with PTSD and his mental condition deteriorated, his family said.
"Whether or not Boeing intended to drive John to his death or merely destroy his ability to function, it was absolutely foreseeable that PTSD and John's unbearable depression, panic attacks, and anxiety, which would in turn lead to an elevated risk of suicide," the lawsuit said. "Boeing may not have pulled the trigger, but Boeing's conduct was the clear cause, and the clear foreseeable cause, of John's death."
A panel of experts in February 2024 criticized Boeing's safety culture, raising the heat on the aircraft manufacturer following a Jan. 5 incident in which the door panel of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 plane made by the
Boeing blew off mid-flight
. The incident came after other safety issues
had been linked
to Boeing's Max line of aircraft, heightening concerns about the jet's safety.
In its
report
following the Alaska Airlines blowout, the Federal Aviation Administration said a panel of government and aviation industry experts had "found a lack of awareness of safety-related metrics at all levels" of Boeing, adding that "employees had difficulty distinguishing the differences among various measuring methods, their purpose and outcomes."
"The failure of quality control at Boeing over the last decade is well known and well documented, as are the consequences of that failure, which include planes crashing and coming apart in the air," lawyers state in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Barnett's mother Vicky Stokes and two other family members.
The lawsuit doesn't specify the amount of damages sought by Barnett's family but asks for compensation for emotional distress and mental anguish, back pay, 10 years of lost future earnings as well as bonuses, health expenses and his lost life insurance benefits.
___
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
by calling or texting 988. You can also
chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here
.
For more information about
mental health care resources and support
, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email
info@nami.org
.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Boeing preps to resume deliveries to China, Reuters reports
Boeing preps to resume deliveries to China, Reuters reports

Business Insider

time2 hours ago

  • Business Insider

Boeing preps to resume deliveries to China, Reuters reports

A new Boeing (BA) 737 MAX painted with Xiamen Airlines' regalia left for China on Friday, Lisa Barrington and Dan Catchpole of Reuters reports, citing flight records on FlightRadar24. This comes after deliveries to Chinese customers were abruptly halted in early April as the U.S. and China edged toward a trade war. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Published first on TheFly – the ultimate source for real-time, market-moving breaking financial news. Try Now>>

Boeing plane lands back in China for delivery as tariff war eases
Boeing plane lands back in China for delivery as tariff war eases

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Boeing plane lands back in China for delivery as tariff war eases

SEOUL (Reuters) -A new Boeing 737 MAX landed back in China on Monday, flight tracking data showed, a sign the U.S. planemaker was resuming deliveries to Chinese customers as Beijing and Washington ease their tariff war. Boeing, which halted deliveries of new planes to China in April as the world's two largest economies ramped up tariffs on each other, said at the end of May deliveries would resume in June after the tariffs were temporarily scaled back for 90 days. The plane, painted in the livery of Xiamen Airlines, landed at Boeing's Zhoushan completion centre near China's commercial hub of Shanghai, after leaving Seattle on Saturday, and halting to refuel in Hawaii and Guam as it crossed the Pacific. Data from tracking app Flightradar24 shows Boeing had originally ferried the craft to Zhoushan in March, before its return to the United States in mid-April, when Chinese airlines stopped taking new Boeing aircraft. Boeing, Xiamen Airlines and regulator the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) did not immediately respond to requests for comment. China represents about 10% of Boeing's commercial backlog and is an important and growing aviation market. Representatives of China and the United States will meet in London on Monday to discuss a trade deal. At least three 737 MAX jets were repatriated by Boeing to the United States in April from Zhoushan, where they were to receive final touches before delivery to Chinese carriers. The first to return was the same one that landed on Monday. Boeing has previously said customers in China would not take delivery of new planes due to tariffs, and it was looking to resell potentially dozens of aircraft. However the planemaker had not sent the planes elsewhere, despite wanting to cut inventory. Beijing has not commented on why Boeing deliveries stopped, but said Chinese airlines and Boeing had been severely affected by U.S.-imposed tariffs. In April, Boeing said it had planned for 50 jets to go to Chinese carriers during the rest of the year, with 41 in production or pre-built. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Boeing plane lands back in China for delivery as tariff war eases
Boeing plane lands back in China for delivery as tariff war eases

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Boeing plane lands back in China for delivery as tariff war eases

SEOUL (Reuters) -A new Boeing 737 MAX landed back in China on Monday, flight tracking data showed, a sign the U.S. planemaker was resuming deliveries to Chinese customers as Beijing and Washington ease their tariff war. Boeing, which halted deliveries of new planes to China in April as the world's two largest economies ramped up tariffs on each other, said at the end of May deliveries would resume in June after the tariffs were temporarily scaled back for 90 days. The plane, painted in the livery of Xiamen Airlines, landed at Boeing's Zhoushan completion centre near China's commercial hub of Shanghai, after leaving Seattle on Saturday, and halting to refuel in Hawaii and Guam as it crossed the Pacific. Data from tracking app Flightradar24 shows Boeing had originally ferried the craft to Zhoushan in March, before its return to the United States in mid-April, when Chinese airlines stopped taking new Boeing aircraft. Boeing, Xiamen Airlines and regulator the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) did not immediately respond to requests for comment. China represents about 10% of Boeing's commercial backlog and is an important and growing aviation market. Representatives of China and the United States will meet in London on Monday to discuss a trade deal. At least three 737 MAX jets were repatriated by Boeing to the United States in April from Zhoushan, where they were to receive final touches before delivery to Chinese carriers. The first to return was the same one that landed on Monday. Boeing has previously said customers in China would not take delivery of new planes due to tariffs, and it was looking to resell potentially dozens of aircraft. However the planemaker had not sent the planes elsewhere, despite wanting to cut inventory. Beijing has not commented on why Boeing deliveries stopped, but said Chinese airlines and Boeing had been severely affected by U.S.-imposed tariffs. In April, Boeing said it had planned for 50 jets to go to Chinese carriers during the rest of the year, with 41 in production or pre-built. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store