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Boeing reaches last-minute settlement with Canadian man whose family died in Ethiopia crash, evades trial
Boeing has accepted responsibility for the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, in which 157 people died. Source: AFP
Boeing finalised a settlement on Friday (July 11) with a Canadian man whose wife and three young children lost their lives in a tragic 2019 plane crash in Ethiopia, dodging the first trial tied to the disaster that led to a global grounding of Max jets.
The trial, scheduled to kick off Monday in Chicago's federal court, was meant to assess damages for Paul Njoroge, a 41-year-old Canadian.
His family was en route to their home country of Kenya in March 2019 aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 when the plane malfunctioned and crashed, claiming all 157 lives on board.
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Njoroge had been set to share how the crash turned his life upside down. He can't bring himself to return to his Toronto family home due to the overwhelming memories, hasn't managed to find work, and has even faced criticism from relatives for not travelling with his wife and kids.
'He's got complicated grief and sorrow and his own emotional stress,' said Njoroge's attorney, Robert Clifford. 'He's haunted by nightmares and the loss of his wife and children.'
Details of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Njoroge's lawyer, Clifford, said his client had aimed to seek 'millions' in damages for his wife and children but chose not to pin down an exact figure publicly before the trial.
'The aviation team at Clifford Law Offices has been working round-the-clock in preparation for trial, but the mediator was able to help the parties come to an agreement,' Clifford said in a statement Friday.
More about now-averted trial
The trial wasn't expected to dive into the technical nitty-gritty of the Max version of Boeing's popular 737, which has been a headache for the company since the Ethiopia crash and a similar one in Indonesia the previous year.
Together, those incidents claimed 346 lives, including passengers and crew.
Back in 2021, Boeing took responsibility for the Ethiopian crash in an agreement with the victims' families, allowing them to file individual claims in US courts rather than their home countries.
Victims hailed from 35 nations, and several families have already settled, though the terms of those deals haven't been disclosed either.
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The Nairobi-bound flight lost control shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and plunged into a desolate area.
Investigations revealed that both the Ethiopian and Indonesian crashes stemmed from a system that depended on a faulty sensor, forcing the planes' noses down and leaving pilots powerless to recover.
Following the Ethiopian crash, Max jets were grounded worldwide until Boeing overhauled the system.
This year, Boeing struck a deal with the US Justice Department to sidestep criminal charges related to both crashes.
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