FORT WORTH – U.S. District Chief Judge Reed O’Connor listened to the testimony from some of the wives, parents, brothers and daughters of the 346 people killed in two Boeing 737 Max plane crashes on Wednesday morning, who pleaded with him to reject the government’s request to dismiss the criminal case against the manufacturer.
The government sued Boeing in January 2021 in the wake of plane crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 that killed a total of 346 people. Now, four years later, the government has moved to dismiss the case and entered a non-prosecution agreement with the aerospace manufacturing company, which 14 families oppose. There are 60 victims’ families who do not oppose the motion.
After hearing nearly four hours of testimony Wednesday from lawyers for Boeing and the Department of Justice, as well as victims’ families, Chief Judge O’Connor said he would issue a ruling on the motion at a later date.
Fourteen families of victims traveled from as far as Kenya, Ireland and Toronto for their opposition to be heard in Fort Worth. They asked that a special prosecutor be appointed to take over.
Zipporah Kuria lost her father, Joseph Kuria Waithaka, in the plane crash in Ethiopia. She told Judge O’Connor she is speaking to him as a person and not a judge. She said she wondered if he was a father and, if so, what kind.
“Where do we want to be sitting on the side of this history?” she asked.
Kuria said her father was “shattered.” There was no body or face to say goodbye to. He won’t get to see his children grow up.
“I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy,” she said.
The Department of Justice, she said, has not upheld its duty to seek justice.
“My father’s death was the sum of calculated decisions,” Kuria said.
Naoise Connolly Ryan became a widow after her husband, Mick Ryan, died in one of the 737 Max crashes. She traveled from Cork, Ireland, to voice her opposition to the motion to dismiss. When she approached the stand, she placed a framed photo of her husband facing Chief Judge O’Connor.
She talked about how her young son recently said his favorite superhero is Superman, which was her husband’s favorite as well. She listed the well-known characteristics of Superman, like compassion, kindness and honesty, and said that Boeing did not act with those characteristics.
Javier de Luis traveled from Boston to talk about the death of his sister, Graziella de Luis. He is a lecturer in the department of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After the crash, he served on the Federal Aviation Administration expert panel to evaluate Boeing’s safety culture. The panel’s report, released to Congress in February 2024, detailed employees’ fear reporting issues to company leaders.
Sean P. Tonolli of the Department of Justice, representing the government, urged Chief Judge O’Connor to grant the motion to dismiss the case and said the government views the non-prosecution agreement as a meaningful form of accountability.
He also argued that Chief Judge O’Connor does not have the authority to appoint a special prosecutor to the case.
Chief Judge O’Connor questioned Tonolli on the government’s decision to drop a requirement that Boeing face oversight from an independent monitor for three years and instead hire a compliance consultant. He asked what had changed since he denied the plea agreement a year ago because of concerns involving the independent monitor. Tonolli said nothing has changed department-wide with how they use independent monitors.
Tonolli told Chief Judge O’Connor that the government has seen meaningful improvement from Boeing and that the FAA is providing oversight.
Kirkland & Ellis partner Mark Filip, who represents Boeing, told Chief Judge O’Connor that Boeing and the government are in agreement.
Boeing has agreed to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims’ fund to be divided evenly per victim of the two crashes, on top of a new $243.6 million fine and an investment of more than $455 million to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety and quality programs.
Paul G. Cassell of the Utah Appellate Project at S.J. Quinney College of Law, who represents the 14 families who oppose the motion, argued that Chief Judge O’Connor does have the authority to grant a special prosecutor, urged the court to deny the motion to dismiss and called the non-prosecutorial agreement “a backroom deal the government cooked up” without conferring with the victims’ families. .
“The natural conclusion is a trial or guilty plea,” Cassell told Chief Judge O’Connor.
“They chose the path of concealment rather than conferral,” Cassell said.
After the hearing concluded, the families gathered outside the courthouse to speak to reporters. Many held photos and fought tears as they talked about the loved ones they lost.
“This is the most important argument we’ve made,” Cassell told reporters.
The families are represented by Darren P. Nicholson, Warren T. Burns and Chase Hilton of Burns Charest, Paul G. Cassell of the Utah Appellate Project at S.J. Quinney College of Law, Sanjiv N. Singh of San Mateo, California, Tracy A. Brammeier of Clifford Law Offices, Erin R. Applebaum of Kreindler & Kreindler and Adrian Vuckovich of Collins Bargione & Vuckovich.
Boeing is represented by Craig S. Primis, Ian Hatch, Jeremy Fielding, John Lausch Jr., Mark Filip and Ralph Dado III of Kirkland & Ellis, Michael Heiskell of Johnson Vaughn & Heiskell and Benjamin Hatch, Brandon Santos and Elissa Baur of McGuireWoods.
The federal government is represented by Sean P. Tonolli and Chad E. Meacham of the Department of Justice.
The case number is 4:21-cr-00005.