The flight 302 of Ethiopian Airlines to Nairobi had crushed near Addis Ababa in March 2019, causing the death of 157 people. The agreement does not mention sum.
Le Monde with AFP
Boeing has agreed with the families of the victims of the Crash of 737 Max who had made 157 dead in Ethiopia in March 2019. The airbuilder recognized his responsibility in the accident based on legal documents filed Wednesday from Wednesday. a Chicago court.
“Boeing is committed to ensuring that all families who have lost relatives in accidents are entirely and precisely compensated,” said the company, solicited by AFP. “Recognizing its responsibility, the Boeing Agreement with families allows parties to focus their efforts on the determination of appropriate compensation for each family.”
The flight 302 to Nairobi, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed in a field in the south-east of the capital Addis Ababa, six minutes after taking off, because of a defective software.
The accident had resulted in the ground immobilization of the models of 737 max, and the worst crisis in the history of the American aircraftor because it followed a few months another accident, that of an apparatus of the same Type of lion Air in Indonesia in October 2018 (189 dead).
Victims of 35 different nationalities
The main families’ lawyers described the “historic” and “important step for relatives in their quest for justice against Boeing”. “It will allow them to be all treated fairly (…) by creating a course to achieve end resolutions, thanks to agreements or trials,” added Robert Clifford, Steven Marks and Justin Green in a statement .
The documents filed Wednesday do not mention sums, but the families of the victims will be able to take steps to obtain compensation in the US courts. The 157 deceased were 35 different nationalities.
An audience is scheduled, Tuesday, Chicago to endorse this preliminary agreement. There will then be mediations. But if they fail, each family will be able to present his case before a jury to obtain damages, according to the law of the state of Chicago, Illinois. “These are substantial affairs, which could still easily take at least two years to solve,” said Robert Clifford lawyer.
A failure of the flight control software
“We present our most sincere condolences to the families of all those who lost their life on the flight 610 of Lion Air and the flight 302 of Ethiopian Airlines,” the spokesman of Boeing Wednesday said. “Since accidents, Boeing has made significant changes as a company, and on the design of 737 max, to ensure that accidents like those never happen again.”
The 737 max, new version of the mythical mailing released in 1967, tainted the reputation of the aircraft and cost it billions of dollars. In January, in particular, Boeing agreed to pay more than 2.5 billion to pay some lawsuits. The aeronautical giant then recognized that two of its employees had misled FAA, the aviation regulator in the United States.
In both incidents, the flight control software, the MCAS, supposed to prevent the aircraft from stinging, had been packed on the wrong incorrect information transmitted by one of the two probes of the device.
The plane has remained nailed to the ground for twenty months, before being gradually allowed to be shifted in the world since the end of 2020. The companies have since returned over more than 200 devices of this type.