Boeing faces first civil trial over Ethiopia crash victims’ payouts

More than six years after a Boeing 737 Max jetliner crashed in Ethiopia, the first civil trial related to the disaster that killed all 157 people on board appears poised to move forward. Boeing has settled most of the dozens of wrongful death lawsuits that families of the victims filed against the aircraft maker after the March 2019 crash, but jury selection began Tuesday in two of the remaining cases in federal court. The trial in Chicago, where Boeing used to have its headquarters, isn’t expected to examine the company’s liability. Boeing already accepted responsibility for what happened to Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and a similar 737 Max crash off the Indonesian coast. Instead, an eight-person jury would be tasked with deciding how much Boeing should pay to the families of two victims. The fatal crash happened minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. Ndivo was returning from her graduation ceremony in London, where she had earned a master’s degree in accountancy. The couple are survived by their daughter, an infant at the time who is now almost 8. Garg, a United Nations consultant, was on her way to attend a U.N. environmental assembly in Nairobi. She is survived by her husband and parents.