Families who lost loved ones in two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes have been dealt a legal setback after a federal appeals court rejected their attempt to revive criminal charges against the aerospace giant.
The families’ legal team contended that Justice Department officials failed to adequately include them in discussions before striking an agreement with Boeing in 2024 that resulted in the dismissal of criminal conspiracy charges. Those charges were based on accusations that Boeing deceived federal aviation officials about a flight control system connected to the disasters that claimed 346 lives.
On Tuesday, three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled against the families’ assertion that federal prosecutors violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, determining they could not restart the criminal proceedings.
Family attorney Paul Cassell criticized the court’s decision as “badly flawed.”
“Today’s ruling means that Boeing escapes criminal justice accountability for killing 346 people,” Cassell stated Tuesday. “The victims’ families were never given a meaningful opportunity to shape the negotiations between the Justice Department and Boeing, dating back to 2020.”
Boeing declined to comment Tuesday, though during appellate arguments in New Orleans last month, company lawyer Paul Clement noted that more than 60 other families “affirmatively supported” the agreement while dozens more raised no objections.
“Boeing deeply regrets” the tragic crashes, Clement had stated, adding the company “has taken extraordinary steps to improve its internal processes and has paid substantial compensation” to victims’ families.
The settlement enabled Boeing to sidestep prosecution by agreeing to pay or invest an additional $1.1 billion in penalties, victim compensation, and internal safety improvements.
During the same court proceedings, government lawyers maintained they had “solicited and weighed the views of the crash victims’ families as it’s decided whether and how to prosecute the Boeing Company” over multiple years.
The fatal accidents occurred within five months of each other between 2018 and 2019, killing everyone aboard both aircraft — a Lion Air jet that crashed into waters near Indonesia and an Ethiopian Airlines plane that went down in a field moments after departure.
The legal proceedings have followed a complex path. Justice Department officials initially filed fraud charges against Boeing in 2021 but agreed to defer prosecution in exchange for a financial settlement and compliance commitments.
Federal prosecutors later concluded in 2024 that Boeing had breached that arrangement, leading the company to agree to enter a guilty plea. However, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas, who had supervised the case for years, rejected that plea agreement and ordered both parties back to the negotiating table.
The Justice Department returned in May with a revised deal and requested complete withdrawal of the criminal charge, which O’Connor granted in November. Justice officials argued that proceeding to trial risked a jury acquittal that would leave Boeing facing no additional consequences.
When dismissing the case, O’Connor determined that federal prosecutors had not acted improperly and had fulfilled their responsibilities under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act while explaining their reasoning.
O’Connor also noted that legal precedent prevented him from blocking the dismissal simply because he questioned whether the government’s new Boeing agreement truly served public interests.
The legal dispute focused on software that Boeing created for the 737 Max, which carriers started operating in 2017. Boeing marketed it as an upgraded version of its 737 series that would require minimal additional pilot instruction.
However, the Max incorporated substantial modifications that Boeing minimized — particularly an automated flight control feature designed to compensate for the aircraft’s enlarged engines. Boeing omitted mention of this system from flight manuals, leaving most pilots unaware of its existence.
In both fatal incidents, this software repeatedly forced the aircraft’s nose downward due to incorrect sensor data, and pilots from Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines could not regain aircraft control. Following the Ethiopian crash, aviation authorities grounded the planes globally for 20 months.
Investigators determined that Boeing failed to notify crucial Federal Aviation Administration officials about software modifications before regulators established pilot training standards for the Max and approved the aircraft for commercial service.
“One can only hope that another Boeing crash won’t be the outcome of this badly flawed ruling,” family attorney Cassell stated Tuesday.
