Latest news with #DarcyBelanger
USA Today
08-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Boeing settles lawsuits with families of 737 MAX crash victims ahead of Chicago trial
Boeing settles lawsuits with families of 737 MAX crash victims ahead of Chicago trial Show Caption Hide Caption Boeing settles lawsuits over Ethiopian 737 Max crash that killed 157 people Boeing has agreed to settle two lawsuits connected to the 2019 Ethiopian crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8, just hours before the cases were scheduled for trial in federal court. Fox - Seattle U.S. planemaker Boeing Co BA.N reached settlements with the families of two people who died in the March 2019 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX on the eve of a trial, the company and lawyers for the families said on Monday. Terms of the settlements with the families of victims Antoine Lewis and Darcy Belanger were not released. The trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago had been expected to be the first against the planemaker in two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that led to the bestselling plane's 20-month grounding and cost Boeing more than $20 billion. Boeing agreed in 2021 to acknowledge liability for compensatory damages to the families of the 157 people killed in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash. The families agreed not to seek punitive damages. Lewis, 39, was a U.S. Army captain on military leave taking a trip to Africa to investigate opportunities to begin a logistics business, while Belanger, 46, of Denver, Colorado, was flying to a United Nations Environmental Assembly where he was scheduled to speak. Boeing 757 safety: NTSB urges mandatory inspections after emergency Boeing reiterated its apologies for the crashes Monday, saying it "made an upfront commitment to fully and fairly compensate the families and accepted legal responsibility for the accidents. We will continue to work to fairly resolve the claims of the family members." The planemaker said it has settled more than 90% of claims from the two 737 MAX accidents and paid billions of dollars in compensation to the families through lawsuits, a deferred prosecution agreement and other payments. There are two other trials set for July and November. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said last week the planemaker is in discussions with the Justice Department to reach a revised plea agreement in a criminal fraud case stemming from the planemaker's alleged misrepresentations to regulators about a key safety system on the 737 MAX. Boeing agreed in July to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay a fine of up to $487.2 million. A judge set a June 23 trial date if no final agreement is reached. Relatives of the crash victims have called the plea agreement a "sweetheart" deal that failed to adequately hold Boeing accountable. The Justice Department found in May that Boeing had violated a 2021 agreement that had shielded it from prosecution over the crashes. Prosecutors then decided to criminally charge Boeing and negotiate the current plea deal. Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter and Cynthia Osterman
Miami Herald
07-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Boeing reaches settlement with 2 families of Ethiopian crash victims
Boeing reached a last-minute settlement with families of two people killed in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, marking another series of cases that concluded before heading to trial and bringing the company closer to ending the legal turmoil from two deadly crashes six years ago. Antoine Lewis and Darcy Belanger were among 157 people killed when a Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed soon after takeoff in Ethiopia in March 2019. A civil trial to determine damages for the family members both victims left behind was scheduled to begin in Chicago this week, with jury selection set for Monday. Both cases settled Sunday evening. The Ethiopian Airlines crash, along with a 2018 crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people, was caused by flawed flight control software on the then-new Boeing 737 Max. In 2021, Boeing accepted responsibility for the crashes in a legal stipulation with the families involved. That stipulation, which was agreed to by all but two of the victims' families, required the company to admit wrongdoing and the plaintiffs to agree not to pursue punitive damages. It guaranteed payments to each family to recognize the loss of their loved ones and ensured that Boeing could not ask a judge to move the cases to the family's home countries, where they may receive smaller sums. Boeing has since settled hundreds of lawsuits with victims' families as it works to restore its reputation. The terms of the settlements are confidential. "We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302," a Boeing spokesperson said Monday. "We made an upfront commitment to fully and fairly compensate the families and accepted legal responsibility for the accidents. We will continue to work to fairly resolve the claims of the family members." There is still one case pending following the crash in Indonesia, according to Mark Lindquist, an attorney who is involved in the proceedings and representing those who lost loved ones in the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Of the 157 people who died in that crash, there are still cases pending for 18 decedents, Lindquist said. U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso has set trial dates in July and November to resolve the remaining lawsuits. Lewis, from suburban Chicago, was 39 at the time of the crash. A U.S. Army captain, he was taking a trip to Africa to explore starting a logistics business, attorneys said in a press release Monday. Belanger, from Denver, was 46 when he died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash. He was a founding member of an environmental advocacy group and was traveling to speak at a United Nations Environment Assembly. "Although these settlements don't bring back their loved ones, hopefully these settlements will begin to offer some closure to these families who have waited so long for justice," attorney Robert Clifford, who represents several of the victims' families, said in a statement Monday. "And the fight against Boeing will continue for the remaining cases." Separately, Boeing also faces a criminal fraud charge from the deadly Max crashes. The Justice Department accused Boeing of intentionally misleading federal safety regulators about the new software system on the planes. Boeing and the Justice Department have twice reached an agreement that would have allowed the company to avoid a criminal trial but both agreements fell through. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas recently set a June trial date in the criminal case against Boeing. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Globe and Mail
07-04-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Boeing Stock (NYSE:BA) Notches Up With Court Settlements
Good news for aerospace stock Boeing (BA) on the legal front, as it just took care of a couple court cases before jury selection processes could even fire up. That news proved welcome enough to investors, who sent shares up fractionally in Monday afternoon's trading. Don't Miss Our End of Quarter Offers: Discover the latest stocks recommended by top Wall Street analysts, all in one place with Analyst Top Stocks. Make smarter investments with weekly expert stock picks from the Smart Investor Newsletter. The cases in question were connected to an Ethopian Airlines flight in which a 737 Max crashed, and Boeing, back in 2021, agreed to acknowledge its liability in the crash, which reportedly killed 157 people. Two of those—Antoine Lewis and Darcy Belanger—people's families instead decided to settle, reports noted. This was supposed to be the start of a major trial in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, but Boeing's move to settle in advance has pulled the teeth out of that part of the trial process. That in turn should likely prove to be good news for Boeing, who now will not have to deal with yet another trial screaming about how its planes failed. And that is press that Boeing certainly does not need right now. Not All the Court Cases Were So Good But as is so often the case for Boeing, not everything could go its way. New reports suggest that Boeing will face a suit after all in the 11 th Circuit, as a federal court in Alabama went a bit too far in its dismissal of claims. The report noted that several companies brought trade secret theft claims against Boeing, stemming from allegations from 2008 that Boeing took these trade secrets to use for itself when it went to bid on an Air Force contract. The companies in question, which were aircraft maintenance and engineering operations, had contracts with Boeing that actually invalidated most of the claims, but the operative word there was 'most.' The claim for 'unjust enrichment' can move forward, the court found, as it was not excluded by the contracts. Is Boeing a Good Stock to Buy Right Now? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 12 Buys, five Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 24.19% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $195.87 per share implies 42.84% upside potential. See more BA analyst ratings Disclosure Disclaimer & Disclosure Report an Issue
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Boeing faces new civil trial over 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash
Boeing is poised to face a jury trial from Monday over the fatal 2019 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX plane, the first civil case related to the disaster to reach court. The Chicago trial, expected to last two weeks, was to feature two plaintiffs who lost family members in the calamity. But one of the complaints was resolved in an out-of-court settlement late Sunday, a judicial source told AFP, in line with most earlier litigants. Barring another last-minute settlement, the trial will begin Monday with the selection of an eight-person jury. "We have had some ongoing discussion that may continue throughout the day and the ensuing days," Robert Clifford, who represents relatives of several crash victims, told the US District court on Wednesday at a pre-trial hearing. A deal could also be struck even while the trial is underway. - Canadian victim - The Boeing plane crashed on March 10, 2019, just six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on its way to Kenya, killing all 157 people on board. Relatives of 155 of the victims had sued Boeing between April 2019 and March 2021 for wrongful death, negligence and other charges. As of late last month, there were 18 complaints still open against Boeing, a source familiar with the case told AFP. Sunday's deal meant that a further three cases had been settled since then, multiple judicial sources told AFP. This week's Chicago litigation will now examine only the case of Canadian Darcy Belanger. Belanger, 46, who lived in Colorado, was a founding member of environmental NGO, the Parvati Foundation, and also worked in construction. He had been visiting Nairobi for a UN conference. US Judge Jorge Alonso has split the Boeing lawsuits into groups of five or six plaintiffs, annulling a potential trial if all the suits settle. In November, the aviation giant reached a last-minute agreement with the family of a woman killed in the crash. The Ethiopian Airlines disaster followed another fatal crash involving a MAX plane -- that of a Lion Air jet that crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing all 189 people on board. Boeing also faced dozens of complaints from Lion Air family victims. Just one case remained open, as of the end of March. - Long-running case - Boeing's settlements with civil plaintiffs have been confidential. 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 lawyer said during an October hearing. The MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) flight stabilizing software was implicated in both the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes. The disasters led to congressional hearings, with irate lawmakers demanding answers, and to leadership shake-ups at the aviation company. The entire 737 MAX fleet was grounded for more than 20 months. Boeing later revised the MCAS program under scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which ultimately cleared the jets to resume service in November 2020. The Chicago trial comes as Boeing also faces a potential criminal trial in June in Texas over the MAX. That trial follows on from a January 2021 deferred prosecution agreement between Boeing and the US Justice Department over the two MAX crashes. In May 2024, the Justice Department notified the court that Boeing had violated terms of the accord. That came after a January 2024 incident in which an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX was forced to make an emergency landing when a panel blew out mid-flight. US District Judge Reed O'Connor last month ordered a jury trial from June 23 after earlier throwing out a proposed settlement between Boeing and the Justice Department. elm-jmb/bbk-tgb/cms
Observer
07-04-2025
- Business
- Observer
Boeing faces new civil trial over 2019 crash
New York - Boeing is poised to face a jury trial from Monday over the fatal 2019 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX plane, the first civil case related to the disaster to reach court. The Chicago trial, expected to last two weeks, was to feature two plaintiffs who lost family members in the calamity. But one of the complaints was resolved in an out-of-court settlement late Sunday, a judicial source told AFP, in line with most earlier litigants. Barring another last-minute settlement, the trial will begin Monday with the selection of an eight-person jury. "We have had some ongoing discussion that may continue throughout the day and the ensuing days," Robert Clifford, who represents relatives of several crash victims, told the US District court on Wednesday at a pre-trial hearing. A deal could also be struck even while the trial is underway. - Canadian victim - The Boeing plane crashed on March 10, 2019, just six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on its way to Kenya, killing all 157 people on board. Relatives of 155 of the victims had sued Boeing between April 2019 and March 2021 for wrongful death, negligence, and other charges. As of late last month, there were 18 complaints still open against Boeing, a source familiar with the case told AFP. Sunday's deal meant that a further three cases had been settled since then, multiple judicial sources told AFP. This week's Chicago litigation will now examine only the case of Canadian Darcy Belanger. Belanger, 46, who lived in Colorado, was a founding member of the environmental NGO, the Parvati Foundation, and also worked in construction. He had been visiting Nairobi for a UN conference. US Judge Jorge Alonso has split the Boeing lawsuits into groups of five or six plaintiffs, annulling a potential trial if all the suits settle. In November, the aviation giant reached a last-minute agreement with the family of a woman killed in the crash. The Ethiopian Airlines disaster followed another fatal crash involving a MAX plane -- that of a Lion Air jet that crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing all 189 people on board. Boeing also faced dozens of complaints from Lion Air family victims. Just one case remained open, as of the end of March. - Long-running case - Boeing's settlements with civil plaintiffs have been confidential. 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 lawyer said during an October hearing. The MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) flight stabilizing software was implicated in both the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes. The disasters led to congressional hearings, with irate lawmakers demanding answers, and to leadership shake-ups at the aviation company. The entire 737 MAX fleet was grounded for more than 20 months. Boeing later revised the MCAS program under scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which ultimately cleared the jets to resume service in November 2020. The Chicago trial comes as Boeing also faces a potential criminal trial in June in Texas over the MAX. That trial follows on from a January 2021 deferred prosecution agreement between Boeing and the US Justice Department over the two MAX crashes. In May 2024, the Justice Department notified the court that Boeing had violated the terms of the accord. That came after a January 2024 incident in which an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX was forced to make an emergency landing when a panel blew out mid-flight. US District Judge Reed O'Connor last month ordered a jury trial from June 23 after earlier throwing out a proposed settlement between Boeing and the Justice Department.
