A jury on Wednesday awarded $28 million to the family of an Indian woman killed in the crash of a Boeing 737 Max jet in Ethiopia in 2019.
As part of a deal worked out before the verdict was officially handed down, Boeing agreed to pay the family of Shikha Garg $35.8 million, the full jury award plus percent interest, according to a report from Reuters. Boeing will not appeal, attorneys representing Garg’s relatives said.
CBS News reported Thursday that the final settlement figure also includes about $3.4 million for Garg’s husband.
The case is one of dozens brought against Boeing following the crash of two 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019. A combined 346 people were killed in both accidents.
The Virginia-based aerospace manufacturer has already settled most of those lawsuits out of court, and less than a dozen remain unresolved, CBS News reported.
Boeing had faced criminal charges in connection with the two crashes, but that case was dropped as part of a nonprosecution agreement. The U.S. Department of Justice had argued that Boeing deliberately deceived FAA investigators about the nature and function of the 737 Max’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a flight stabilization feature that played a role in both crashes.
Boeing will pay about $1.1 billion in new penalties, compensation for a victims’ fund, and investments in quality and safety.
Garg, then 32 and a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme, was a passenger on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (HAAB) on March 10, 2019. She was on her way to a U.N. meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
The jury, selected last week in Chicago, was tasked with determining compensation for Garg’s relatives, since Boeing had already accepted responsibility. It was asked to consider factors like the grief suffered by Garg’s family, lost income, and the extreme terror Garg likely faced in her final moments.
In a statement, Boeing again apologized to all the victims’ family members and said it respects their right to pursue their claims.
