Boeing board must face MAX lawsuit - court
Boeing's board of directors must face a lawsuit from shareholders over two fatal 737 MAX crashes.
That’s according to a U.S. court ruling on Tuesday (September 7).
346 people were killed in the crashes, which happened within six months of each other.
The first came down near Indonesia in late 2018. The next was an Ethiopian Airlines flight in March 2019.
Delaware judge Morgan Zurn said the first crash was a 'red flag' about a key safety system called MCAS.
Zurn said the board should have paid attention to this, but instead the warning was ignored
After the second crash, all MAX planes were grounded worldwide.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration lifted a flight ban only last November, after a 20-month review.
In January this year, Boeing was charged by the Justice Department with fraud conspiracy over the MAX.
The planemaker agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement and a settlement worth more than $2.5 billion.
Tuesday's ruling found that some evidence submitted by Boeing supported the shareholders' allegations.
The judge said the board 'publicly lied about if and how it monitored the 737 MAX's safety'.
The ruling could also spell trouble for CEO David Calhoun - as the judge said some of his comments were 'false'.
Boeing said it was 'disappointed in the court's decision to allow the case to proceed' and will 'consider its next steps'.
To date, the crashes have cost Boeing around $20 billion.
