A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a shareholder class action lawsuit against Boeing, which accused the aerospace giant of putting profits before passenger safety and making misleading claims about its dedication to safe aircraft — all before a cabin panel blew out mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 in January 2024.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that shareholders, led by Rhode Island’s state treasurer, failed to present an adequate method for demonstrating how financial damages could be calculated across all members of the class.
Attorneys representing the shareholders had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication. Boeing and its legal team also did not immediately reply to similar inquiries.
Class action lawsuits are significant because they allow groups of plaintiffs to pursue larger recoveries at a fraction of the cost of filing individual cases.
The Boeing shareholders alleged that the Arlington, Virginia-based company artificially inflated its stock price by releasing misleading statements in the aftermath of two MAX aircraft crashes — one in October 2018 and another in March 2019 — which together claimed 346 lives.
A U.S. District Judge in Alexandria, Virginia, had ruled in March 2025 that shareholders who held Boeing stock between January 7, 2021 and January 8, 2024 were eligible to pursue their claims as a unified group. With Monday’s ruling, the appeals court has returned the case to that same judge for further proceedings.
