SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
federal aviation administration
Crash Victims' Families Ask Judge to Toss 'Morally Reprehensible' Boeing Deal
"This sweetheart deal deceptively presents a version of Boeing's crime that conceals the fact that Boeing's lies to the FAA directly and proximately killed 346 people," said one attorney representing families.
Aug 01, 2024
Lawyers for families of the hundreds of victims killed in a pair of Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashes filed motions this week urging U.S. Judge Reed O'Connor to reject a "morally reprehensible" plea agreement and instead force the company to go to trial.
The Texas-based judge is considering a proposed deal, finalized by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) last week, in which Boeing would plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the safety of the aircraft involved in the Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash the next year.
Under the deal—which comes after the DOJ determined that Boeing breached its obligations under a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) and federal prosecutors recommended criminal charges—the company would also pay a $243.6 million fine, invest $455 million in compliance and safety, and be subject to oversight by an independent monitor for three years.
"We urge Judge O'Connor to use his recognized authority to reject this inappropriate plea and set the matter for a public trial."
"This sweetheart deal deceptively presents a version of Boeing's crime that conceals the fact that Boeing's lies to the FAA directly and proximately killed 346 people," said Paul Cassell, an attorney for families and University of Utah law professor, in a Wednesday statement. "This plea deal is not in the public interest."
"It is deceptive and unfair," he added, "and we urge Judge O'Connor to use his recognized authority to reject this inappropriate plea and set the matter for a public trial, so that all the facts surrounding the case will be aired in a fair and open forum before a jury."
The filing from Cassell's team argues that the court should reject the "rotten deal" because:
- It destroys the court's ability to craft a fair and just sentence—and one that is perceived as fair and just by the public;
- The parties have "swallowed the gun" by hiding relevant facts about Boeing's culpability;
- It allows Boeing to escape accountability for directly and proximately causing 346 deaths;
- It surreptitiously exonerates Boeing's then-senior leadership;
- The $243 million fine is inadequate under the principles of sentencing;
- The compliance monitor provision is inadequate;
- The provision requiring Boeing to make new investments in compliance, quality, and safety programs is unenforceable and inadequate; and
- The restitution provision is misleading and unfairly allows Boeing to tie up restitution through extensive litigation and appeals.
"Whereas the DPA, was a 'sweetheart deal,' the plea bargain is a 'do-over,'" declared Chris Moore, a Canadian whose 24-year-old daughter Danielle was killed in the 2019 crash in Ethiopia. "The average citizen during criminal prosecutions doesn't get a 'do-over.' More to the point, my daughter didn't get a 'do-over,' which is why the DOJ should take justice seriously instead of bowing to the pressures of commerce."
Javier de Luis, who lost his sister Graziella in the same crash, said that "the ultimate aim of this agreement should be to ensure that the two 737 MAX crashes are never repeated. This agreement does nothing to achieve that objective."
Both de Luis and Catherine Berthet, whose daughter Camille also died in the 2019 crash, highlighted a January incident: A door plug flew off the Boeing 737 MAX 9 used for Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, causing minor injuries and forcing an emergency landing.
"Basically, this appalling door plug incident in January happened because, despite the constraints imposed by the DPA, nothing has changed at Boeing," Berthet said. "What will the plea deal change? Nothing."
"The only way to change Boeing is simply to apply justice," she added, arguing that Boeing, outgoing chief executive officer Dave Calhoun, and ex-CEO Dennis Muilenburg must be held "accountable for their actions and decisions by facing a jury at a trial."
"My daughter didn't get a 'do-over,' which is why the DOJ should take justice seriously instead of bowing to the pressures of commerce."
After announcing in March that Calhoun would voluntarily leave his post by the end of this year, Boeing revealed Wednesday that he will be replaced by Robert "Kelly" Ortberg of Rockwell Collins, who is set to start his new role on August 8.
"The arrival of a new CEO at Boeing could not have happened at a more crucial and necessary time for the safety of the traveling public around the world," said Robert A. Clifford, lead counsel for victims' families in pending civil litigation, in a Wednesday statement. "As a company, Boeing has been nosediving in self-destructive flight under the past leadership of Muilenburg, Calhoun, and the do-nothing board of directors."
"This move may give the company the ability to pull out of its impending total and fatal crash, unlike what occurred to the 346 innocent victims of the two Boeing 737 MAX 8 preventable disasters," he continued. "While this man is an industry insider, he does come from outside of Boeing and on the face of it has a well-regarded reputation in the industry. Maybe he can bring the company back to the stature it once held before it criminally and preventively killed 346 people."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Outrage as Reports Suggest DOJ to Offer Boeing 'Sweetheart Deal' Over Fatal Crashes
"There is no accountability, no admission that Boeing's admitted crime caused the 346 deaths, and the families will most certainly object," said one lawyer for victims' relatives.
Jul 01, 2024
The families of 346 people who were killed on two Boeing 737 MAX airplanes in 2018 and 2019 were expected to "strenuously object" to a plea deal reportedly proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice a week after federal prosecutors recommended criminal charges for the company.
The penalties proposed by the DOJ "are totally inadequate," said Javier de Luis, whose sister was killed when the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX plane she was on crashed in 2019.
Family members take issue with the proposal "both from the perspective of accountability for the crimes committed, and from the perspective of acting in the public interest by ensuring a change in Boeing's behavior," said de Luis, who served on a panel assembled by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to review Boeing's safety culture.
The agreement, which has been denounced as a "sweetheart deal" by family members and their attorneys, reportedly includes a requirement that Boeing plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the FAA in connection with the crashes, as well as a $487.2 million financial penalty. The company board would be required to meet with the victims' families and appoint an independent monitor to oversee Boeing's safety practices.
Boeing would be required to pay only half of the fine because prosecutors would give the company credit for a settlement payment officials already made in relation to the crashes.
Boeing paid $2.5 billion as part of another deal that granted it immunity from criminal prosecution over its planes' safety flaws, with the agreement mandating that it abide by the terms for a three-year period that ended in January. Two days before that period ended, the company came under new scrutiny after a door plug that was missing several bolts blew off a Boeing 737 MAX 9 flown by Alaska Airlines while the plane was at an elevation of 16,000 feet.
Erin Applebaum, a lawyer representing victims' relatives, said Sunday as the new plea deal proposal was reported that "when there is inevitably another Boeing crash and DOJ seeks to assign blame, they will have nowhere else to look but in the mirror."
Boeing has until the end of the week to accept or reject the agreement; if it agrees, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor will decide whether the deal is in the public interest.
Attorneys for the families said the relatives plan to call on the judge to reject the deal.
"The families are very unhappy and angered with DOJ's decisions and proposal," said Robert Clifford, lead counsel for the families who have filed civil litigation. "There is no accountability, no admission that Boeing's admitted crime caused the 346 deaths, and the families will most certainly object before Judge Reed O'Connor and ask that he reject the plea if Boeing accepts."
The memory of victims of the crashes in 2018 and 2019, said Paul Cassell, who represents the families of 15 people who were killed on the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Airlines planes, "demands more justice than this."
David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, noted that some reporting on the deal suggests the DOJ will make a criminal charge, but said, "That's probably just trying to get Boeing to admit wrongdoing."
The reported deal comes a week after an employee of a contractor for one of Boeing's partner companies, Spirit Aerosystems, became the latest of more than a dozen whistleblowers to come forward about safety issues with the company's aircrafts. The worker notified Boeing of problems with 787 Dreamliner planes that posed "catastrophic" danger to people on board.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Federal Prosecutors Recommend Criminal Charges for Boeing
"Apparently, you have to kill hundreds of people before they even start to think about consequences," said one observer.
Jun 24, 2024
Federal prosecutors have recommended that the U.S. Department of Justice criminally charge Boeing for violating a 2021 settlement over two fatal crashes of the aerospace giant's troubled 737 MAX jetliners.
As Reutersreported Monday:
In May, officials determined the company breached a 2021 agreement that had shielded Boeing from a criminal charge of conspiracy to commit fraud arising from two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 involving the 737 MAX jet. Under the 2021 deal, the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute Boeing over allegations it defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration so long as the company overhauled its compliance practices and submitted regular reports. Boeing also agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle the investigation.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Boeing violated the settlement by "failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations."
Boeing declined to comment on the Reuters report. Referring to the settlement, the company said last month that "we believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement."
The DOJ has until July 7 to decide whether to prosecute Boeing officials.
News of the prosecutors' recommendation came days after The New York Timesreported that the DOJ is considering letting Boeing avoid prosecution for violating the terms of the 2021 settlement. According to the Times, the department is weighing a negotiated resolution under which the company takes a plea deal or deferred prosecution agreement (DPA)—which would impose monitoring and compliance terms—in lieu of a trial fraught with uncertainties.
Boeing entered into a DPA after 737 MAX jets crashed, killing hundreds of people. On October 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight JT610, a nearly new 737 MAX 8, crashed into the Java Sea shortly after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. Indonesian investigators subsequently concluded that a faulty sensor caused the plane's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) to continually tilt the aircraft downward.
On March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, also a MAX 8, crashed into a field six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia en route to Nairobi, Kenya. All 157 people aboard were killed. Boeing acknowledged that a MCAS-related software error caused the crash and vowed to "prevent erroneous data from causing MCAS activation."
As Boeing whistleblowers—who claim they've been retaliated against—and outside aviation safety experts revealed what consumer safety advocate Ralph Nader described as "serial criminal negligence" in the company's handling of the crisis, public pressure urging the government to ground all 737 MAX planes increased. Then-Republican U.S. President Donald Trump finally did so on March 13, 2019 amid a worldwide wave of groundings that lasted until December 2020 in the United States and longer in some countries.
Yet problems persisted. Earlier this year, a door plug flew off a 737 MAX 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight, injuring passengers and forcing an emergency landing. The incident also prompted a temporary MAX 9 grounding and a DOJ criminal probe. The FAA found "multiple instances" in which Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems—a parts supplier—"allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements." The agency also noted "noncompliance issues in Boeing's manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control."
Last week, relatives of the 737 MAX 8 crash victims urged federal prosecutors to file criminal charges against Boeing and fine the company $25 billion.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)—a former federal prosecutor and state attorney general—said last week at a hearing on Boeing's broken safety culture that "the evidence is near-overwhelming to justify" DOJ prosecution.
"Boeing needs to stop thinking about the next earnings call and start thinking about the next generation," Blumenthal said, echoing allegations that the company prioritizes profit over safety.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said at the hearing that he is "proud of every action" his company has taken in response to the 737 MAX safety crisis. Calhoun announced in March that he would step down as CEO at the end of the year—a move critics called insufficient if there is no criminal accountability.
Monday's reporting followed news that two NASA astronauts who left Earth aboard Boeing's
Starliner are stranded on the International Space Station after engineers found numerous problems with the reusable capsule. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were scheduled to return to Earth on June 13 after a week aboard the ISS. This is the third time their return home has been delayed. The Starliner is docked to the ISS' Harmony module and has just 45 days of docking time left before the window for a safe return closes.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular