.webp)
By Dalena Reporters — Chicago, USA — November 13, 2025
In a landmark verdict that draws a public line under one of the aviation industry’s most tragic chapters, Boeing has been ordered by a federal jury in Chicago to pay more than US $28 million to the family of Shikha Garg, a United Nations environmental worker who died in the March 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a 737 MAX aircraft.
Under a deal reached on the morning of the verdict, the total award to Garg’s family is US $35.85 million — a figure that includes interest of 26 per cent. Boeing has agreed not to appeal.
Garg, aged 32 at the time of her death, was aboard the flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi when the aircraft crashed minutes after take-off, killing all on board. The lawsuit alleged that the 737 MAX was defectively designed and that Boeing failed to adequately warn passengers and the public about the risks posed by its automated flight-control system—a system implicated in both the Ethiopian crash and an earlier crash of Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia in October 2018.
The Chicago trial is the first civil-trial verdict among dozens of lawsuits tied to the two MAX crashes, which collectively resulted in 346 fatalities.
Significance & Implications
-
The verdict places a spotlight on the issue of corporate accountability in aviation safety, especially when large consequences follow alleged design failures and regulatory lapses.
-
While Boeing had previously settled more than 90 % of the related civil suits and entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, this verdict is unique in going to trial and becoming public.
-
For Boeing, the settlement (US $35.85 million) in this single case is a relatively small figure in the context of its wider liabilities, but the public nature of the verdict raises reputational risk and may influence future litigation and regulatory scrutiny.
What this Means for the Industry
-
Aircraft manufacturers and aviation regulators alike will be watching closely. The verdict could encourage more families or claimants to pursue trials, rather than settling out of court.
-
It also reinforces the role of software, automation and design review in modern-aircraft safety — particularly for aircraft types subject to rapid production and global deployment.
-
Boeing’s willingness not to appeal may reflect a strategic choice to avoid protracted litigations, but it may also set a precedent in how the company handles such major liabilities.
The jury’s decision marks a pivotal moment: a clear judicial finding of accountability linked to the 737 MAX disaster, beyond regulatory settlements and corporate statements. For the family of Shikha Garg, it provides formal recognition of the wrongful loss they suffered; for Boeing and the global aviation sector, it is a reminder that safety must remain paramount — and failures can carry not just operational, but legal and moral consequences.
Dalena Reporters — Where facts meet clarity and consequence.