Boeing will pay the families of 346 people killed in two 737 MAX crashes $US144,500 ($213,242) each from a $US50 million financial assistance fund ann
Boeing will pay the families of 346 people killed in two 737 MAX crashes $US144,500 ($213,242) each from a $US50 million financial assistance fund announced in July, the fund’s administrators have said. The late Prof. Pius Adesanmi died in the ill fated crash.
The fund, overseen by Washington lawyers Ken Feinberg and Camille S Biros, will begin accepting claims from family members immediately. Family members will not be required to waive or release the right to litigate as a condition of participation. Claims must be postmarked no later than December 31, the fund said.
The 737 MAX has been grounded since March after fatal crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Mr Feinberg said in an email to Reuters that “finding all of these heirs and making sure the funds will be safe and secure will be a real challenge, since the families can be found in 35 foreign countries”.
In a statement, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the company continued to extend its deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of victims of the twin crashes.
Boeing also announced in July it planned to spend an additional $US50 million to support education and economic empowerment in impacted communities.
Nearly 100 lawsuits have been filed against Boeing by at least a dozen law firms representing families of the Ethiopian Airlines crash victims, who came from 35 different countries, including nine US citizens and 19 Canadians.
Families of about 60 victims have yet to file lawsuits but plaintiffs’ lawyers said they anticipated more to come. Most of the lawsuits do not make a specific dollar claim, though one law firm has said its clients are seeking more than $1 billion.
The lawsuits assert that Boeing defectively designed the automated flight control system. The system is believed to have repeatedly forced the nose lower in both accidents. Boeing has said it aims to win approval to resume flights early in the fourth quarter.
US Federal Aviation Administration head Steve Dickson told Reuters last week it was not clear when Boeing would be able to conduct a certification test flight. But he said the agency should approve the plane’s return about a month after the test flight occurs unless something unforeseen turned up.
Indonesian investigators found that design and oversight lapses played a key role in the October 2018 crash of Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jet that killed all 189 people aboard.
The draft conclusions, expected to be the first formal government finding of flaws in the design and US regulatory approval, also identify a string of pilot errors and maintenance mistakes as causal factors of the Lion Air crash. Soerjanto Tjahjono, the head of Indonesia’s transport safety committee, told Reuters he could not comment before the release of the final report, which is expected by early November.
