US Jury Clears Boeing in LOT Polish Airlines 737 MAX Lawsuit

A US jury ruled on Wednesday that aerospace giant Boeing is not liable for revenue losses in a lawsuit involving the 737 MAX jet. The 737 MAX was grounded for 20 months following fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. According to AFP, the initial complaint filed by LOT Polish Airlines accused Boeing of fraud, alleging that the company 'knowingly and negligently made false statements and concealed omissions' regarding the 737 MAX, seeking $250 million in damages. However, court documents seen by AFP indicate that the jury at the federal court in Seattle found otherwise. A Boeing spokesperson stated in a message to AFP, 'We are pleased with the jury's verdict in our favor.' The case stemmed from claims by LOT that the long grounding of the MAX, following the Lion Air crash in 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines crash in 2019 which killed 346 people, caused the airline significant business losses. After the crashes, Boeing admitted that a flaw in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was a contributing factor. The 737 MAX was grounded from March 2019 until the FAA approved its return to service in November 2020 after Boeing upgraded the MCAS. The lawsuit by LOT was the first time an airline had taken Boeing to trial over the MAX issues. Boeing also faces dozens of lawsuits from families of the crash victims, most of which have been settled out of court. A US jury did award $49.5 million to the family of Samya Stumo, a 24-year-old American who died in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, marking a rare exception.