This archive report was first published on 18 September 2019.
On September 17, 2019, a lawyer representing victims of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 called for Boeing Co and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to release documents related to the decision to keep the Boeing 737 MAX in service after the Lion Air crash in October 2018.
The crash of Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, killed all 189 people on board, and the FAA issued a warning to airlines about the potential for the 737 MAX's automated flight control system to cause the plane to pitch its nose down. However, the agency allowed the jets to continue flying.
Five months later, the same system was implicated in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019, which killed all 157 passengers and crew, prompting a global grounding of the 737 MAX that remains in place.
Robert Clifford, a lawyer from Clifford Law Offices, which represents families of the Ethiopian crash victims, stated at a status hearing in Chicago that the decisions to keep the planes in service were crucial.
Clifford was appointed lead counsel to represent the majority of plaintiffs suing Boeing over the Ethiopian Airlines crash. He plans to pursue two tracks in the case: one for clients who wish to settle with Boeing and another for those who want to push for discovery.
Plaintiffs' lawyers representing victims of airline crashes typically work for free and receive a percentage of the settlement or award.
Amos Mbicha, who lost his sister and her son in the crash of ET302, said some Kenyan families had not sued yet because they found it confusing to choose between the many law firms seeking to represent victims.
