Families who lost loved ones in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes are objecting to what they call a “sweetheart deal with Boeing” orchestrated by the Justice Department.
The Justice Department announced the agreement in a filing with federal district court Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas.
Families who lost loved ones in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes quickly filed in that same court an objection to the deal. The families’ notice indicated that “the plea deal with Boeing unfairly makes concessions to Boeing that other criminal defendants would never receive and fails to hold Boeing accountable for the deaths of 346 persons. … As a result, the generous plea agreement rests on deceptive and offensive premises,” according to the objection filed in federal district court in Texas after the DOJ filed Boeing’s plea with the court.
The issue of whether to accept the plea agreement and Boeing’s guilty plea now rests with Judge O’Connor who is overseeing the criminal matter. Families from around the world are intending to travel to an anticipated court hearing to argue against the deal.
Attorney Paul Cassell, representing the families, criticized the deal as deceptive and unfair. He urged Judge O’Connor to reject the plea agreement and set the matter for a public trial, emphasizing the need for transparency and justice.
The plea agreement would prevent Boeing from facing a full public trial. This decision has deeply disappointed the families, who believe that Boeing’s safety practices have not improved since the crashes.
The Department of Justice had previously decided not to prosecute Boeing, explaining the plea terms in a last-minute video conference. Families and their lawyers reacted swiftly, comparing this agreement to a failed Deferred Prosecution Agreement from four years ago.
Attorney Robert A. Clifford highlighted that the plea deal continues to prioritize Boeing’s profits over safety. He called for a more thorough investigation and accountability for Boeing’s actions.
The agreement includes a $487 million fine for Boeing, significantly less than the potential $24.7 billion fine. Families are pushing for more severe consequences to ensure that such negligence does not recur.
Reaction to the Justice Department offering what families and their lawyers term a “sweetheart deal” was swift with some referring to the DOJ’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) entered into nearly four years ago. In May, the DOJ decided to discard the DPA after it found Boeing hadn’t complied with its terms following a door plug flying off of an Alaska Airlines jet in mid-flight in January.
“The DoJ has decided that repeating the same mistakes made when they negotiated their illegal DPA three years ago will now yield a different result. The penalties and conditions imposed on Boeing as a result of this plea deal are not substantively different than those that failed to change Boeing’s safety culture and that resulted in the Alaska Air door blowout,” said Javier de Luis who lost his sister Graziella in the second crash five years ago. He is an aerospace engineer. “This agreement ignores Judge O’Connor’s finding that Boeing’s fraud was directly responsible for the deaths of 346 people. It ignores the Fifth Circuit’s observation that an agreement such as this fundamentally needs to serve the manifest public interest of improving aviation safety. When the next crash happens, every DoJ official that signed off on this deal will be as responsible as the Boeing executives that refuse to put safety ahead of profits.”
Zipporah Kuria of England who lost her father, Joseph, said, “Miscarriage of justice is a gross understatement in describing this. It is an atrocious abomination. I hope that, God forbid, if this happens again the DOJ is reminded that it had the opportunity to do something meaningful and instead chose not to. We will not stop our fight for justice, whatever that looks like moving forward. For a company that keeps singing that they have changed their tune to take the easy way out again, isn’t reflective of that. It’s a stark reality that this sets a precedent for morally bankrupt companies like Boeing can prosper at the cost of human life without real reprimand and that justice is for those who can afford to wriggle out of accountability. Shame on the DOJ.”
Chris and Clariss Moore of Canada lost their daughter Danielle, 24, in the crash. He said, “The Department of Justice should have initially conducted a full investigation and a criminal trial against Boeing staff who spearheaded the fraudulent certification of the Boeing Max plane. The deadliest corporate crime in the United States history but the most lenient sanction for corporate manslaughter of this magnitude requires a detailed explanation of what happened; the facts must be made public, and the individuals must be held to account. Just as Boeing didn’t take corrective actions after the first crash, the Department of Justice, too, has not taken corrective action after yet another accident caused by Boeing (Alaska Air). The plea deal is a carbon copy of the DPA and without true accountability more accidents will happen. These soft actions taken by the Department of Justice once again shows favouritism to those who are wealthy and powerful in the United States.”
Ike Riffel of California who lost his two sons, Melvin and Bennett, in the crash said, “Again the Department of Justice leaves the families of 346 people killed by Boeing’s reckless and negligent behavior in the dark. Without full transparency and accountability nothing will change. I would hope that we could learn from these terrible tragedies. But instead, the DOJ hands Boeing another sweetheart deal. With this deal, there will be no investigation, there will be no expert witness testimony, there will be no perpetrators of these crimes to answer the charges in court. Without a full public investigation and public trial, the families and flying public will never know the truth. We would hope that the death of our loved ones would have brought about real change in the way Boeing does business and begin to put safety over profit again — the formula that made them the great company they used to be. The first corporate probation did nothing to change Boeing behavior, what makes the DOJ think that another one will make any difference? It makes you ask the question, is justice really blind?
Paul Njoroge of Canada who lost his entire family, Carol, his wife, and his son and daughters, 6-year-old Ryan, 4-year-old Kelli and 9-month-old Rubi, and his wife’s mom, said, “It was obviously a no-brainer that Boeing was going to accept the plea agreement. It is a deal that allows Boeing to go unscathed. The truth is that the Department of Justice re-wrote the Deferred Prosecution Agreement of January 2021. Obnoxiously, this plea agreement does not factor that 346 lives were lost because of the negligence of Boeing’s senior management. When this deal goes before Judge O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas, I will request him to disallow it.”
Judge O’Connor ruled earlier that the 346 family members who lost loved ones in two new Boeing 737 MAX8 crashes within five months were crime victims in this case under the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
Judge O’Connor will now decide whether to accept the plea agreement. The families remain hopeful that their objections will be considered, and justice will be served.
