October 22, 20223:21 AM GMT+2Last Updated 13 hours ago
U.S. judge:
Passengers in fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes are 'crime victims'
Oct 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge
in Texas ruled on Friday that people killed in two Boeing (BA.N) 737
MAX crashes are legally considered "crime victims," a designation
that will determine what remedies should be imposed.
In December, some crash victims' relatives said the U.S. Justice
Department violated their legal rights when it struck a January 2021 deferred
prosecution agreement with the planemaker over two crashes that killed 346
people.
The
families argued the government "lied and violated their rights through a
secret process" and asked U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor to rescind
Boeing's immunity from criminal prosecution - which was part of the $2.5
billion agreement - and order the planemaker publicly arraigned on felony
charges.
O'Connor ruled on Friday that "in sum, but for Boeing's
criminal conspiracy to defraud the (Federal Aviation Administration), 346
people would not have lost their lives in the crashes."
Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said the ruling
"is a tremendous victory" and "sets the stage for a pivotal
hearing, where we will present proposed remedies that will allow criminal
prosecution to hold Boeing fully accountable."
Boeing did not immediately comment.
After the families filed the legal challenge saying their rights
were violated under the Crime Victims' Rights Act, Attorney General Merrick
Garland met with some of them but stood by the plea deal, which included a $244
million fine, $1.77 billion compensation to airlines and a $500 million
crash-victim fund.
The
deal capped a 21-month investigation into the design and development of the 737
MAX following the deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019.
Boeing did not disclose key details to the FAA of a safety
system called MCAS, which was linked to both fatal crashes and designed to help
counter a tendency of the MAX to pitch up. "Had Boeing not committed its
crime" pilots in Ethiopia and Indonesia would have "received training
adequate to respond to the MCAS activation that occurred on both
aircrafts," O'Connor ruled.
The crashes, which have cost Boeing more than $20 billion in
compensation, production costs, and fines, and led to a 20-month grounding for
the best-selling plane, prompted Congress to pass legislation reforming FAA
airplane certification.
Boeing wants Congress to waive a December
deadline imposed by the legislation for the FAA to certify the MAX 7 and MAX
10. After that date, all planes must have modern cockpit alerting systems,
which the 737 planes do not have.
Last month, Boeing paid $200 million to settle Securities and
Exchange Commission charges it misled investors about the MAX.
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