A jury in Chicago granted $49.5 million in damages to the family of a 24-year-old American who died in a 2019 Boeing 737 MAX crash. The case involved Samya Stumo, who was among the fatalities in the Ethiopian Airlines crash that occurred in March 2019, claiming 157 lives.
The jury spent approximately two hours in deliberation before determining that the plaintiff’s damages amounted to $49.5 million, as per court documents. Most civil lawsuits regarding the crash reached settlements outside the courtroom. However, Stumo’s family and Boeing could not reach a settlement before the trial began on a Monday.
Boeing issued a statement expressing condolences: “We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. While we have resolved nearly all of these claims through settlements, families are entitled to pursue their claims through the court process, and we respect their right to do so.”
Stumo was heading to Kenya for her first assignment with ThinkWell, a public health NGO focused on improving healthcare access in Africa and Asia. The plane crashed shortly after departing Addis Ababa, resulting in total casualties.
Rescuers work at the wreckage of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft east of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 10, 2019.Getty Images
This tragedy followed a similar crash involving a Lion Air flight in Indonesia around four and a half months earlier, which killed 189 people. Both crashes involved the Boeing 737 Max 8 model.
Following these incidents, Boeing grounded all 737 Max planes for nearly two years to implement necessary system upgrades. The company also faced a criminal fraud charge, which was dropped by federal prosecutors after Boeing agreed to more than $1.1 billion in fines and $445 million in crash victim compensation. As part of the agreement, Boeing committed to reinforcing internal safety and quality measures, helping the company avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max aircraft before these two crashes.