Ethiopian Airlines crash: Boeing escapes civil trial once again

"The lawsuit has been settled for a confidential amount," said a spokeswoman for Clifford Law, which represented the plaintiff, Paul Njoroge. The announcement was made to Judge Jorge Alonso, who sits in federal court in Chicago, Illinois, and centralizes all civil lawsuits filed following the crash, during a pretrial hearing held Friday afternoon.

On March 10, 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight ET302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi crashed southeast of the Ethiopian capital six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board. Among them were Paul Njoroge's family: his wife Carolyne (33), his children Ryan (6), Kellie (4), and Rubi (9 months), as well as his mother-in-law Ann Karanja, who were traveling from Toronto to Nairobi.

The trial was scheduled to last five to seven days before eight jurors. These trials are simply intended to determine the amount of compensation for relatives. Relatives of 155 victims filed lawsuits against Boeing between April 2019 and March 2021 for wrongful death and negligence, among other claims. To simplify the procedure, Judge Alonso divided the lawsuits into groups of five to six and set a trial date for each group. If all the claims in a group result in an out-of-court settlement, the lawsuit is dismissed.