Boeing has reached a settlement with Paul Njoroge, a Canadian man who lost his entire family in the tragic crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019. Njoroge’s wife, Carolyne, their three children Ryan, 6; Kellie, 4; and nine-month-old Rubi and his mother-in-law were among the 157 people killed when the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft went down shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa.
The terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed, but the agreement averted what would have been the first trial against Boeing stemming from the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, which together claimed 346 lives. The trial was scheduled to begin on Monday in the U.S. District Court in Chicago.
This settlement follows another in April, when Boeing resolved claims with the families of two other victims of the Ethiopian Airlines disaster. More than 90% of the civil lawsuits tied to the crashes have now been settled, according to the company. The crashes led to a 20-month global grounding of the 737 MAX, Boeing’s best-selling jet, and cost the aerospace giant more than $20 billion in direct financial losses, lawsuits, and safety improvements.
Despite the settlements, Boeing still faces legal challenges. Njoroge’s lawyer, Robert Clifford, will represent six more families in a separate trial scheduled to begin on November 3.
Meanwhile, Boeing and the U.S. Department of Justice are seeking court approval for a plea agreement reached in 2024. Under the deal, Boeing would plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge for misleading federal regulators about a crucial flight control system implicated in the crashes. If approved, the agreement would allow Boeing to avoid a felony conviction and oversight from an independent compliance monitor.
However, the proposed plea deal has drawn strong opposition from some victims’ families, who argue that it lets Boeing off too lightly. They continue to push for greater accountability and transparency from the aerospace manufacturer.
The tragedy of Flight 302 remains one of the darkest chapters in aviation history, with ongoing repercussions for both Boeing and the families of those who perished.
