A jury in federal court in Chicago has ordered Boeing to pay more than $28 million to the family of Shikha Garg, a United Nations environmental worker who was killed in the 2019 crash of a 737 MAX jet in Ethiopia.
The verdict, awarded to Garg’s family, marks the first to go to trial among dozens of lawsuits filed in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines disaster and the earlier Lion Air crash in Indonesia in 2018, which together claimed 346 lives.
After approximately two hours of deliberation, the Chicago jury returned with an award that included $10 million for grief, $10 million for Garg’s pain and suffering, and other compensation.
“We happily accept the verdict. We came here for a jury trial and it’s absolutely acceptable,” Garg’s widower, Soumya Bhattacharya, told AFP.
Boeing issued a statement expressing regret about the deadly accidents.
A spokesperson said, “We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. While we have resolved the vast majority of these claims through settlements, families are also entitled to pursue their claims through damages trials in court, and we respect their right to do so.”
Attorneys representing Bhattacharya had argued the estate should receive between $80 million and $230 million, while Boeing’s counsel had proposed $11.95 million.
The lawsuits stem from the March 10, 2019, flight that crashed six minutes after departing Addis Ababa for Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board. Garg’s was the first case to proceed to trial after Boeing reached dozens of civil settlements in other cases from both the Ethiopian Airlines crash and the 2018 Lion Air 737 MAX disaster.
Boeing had previously accepted responsibility for the Ethiopian Airlines crash and acknowledged the need to pay damages to Garg’s survivors.
However, the trial weighed the final sum, with Boeing’s attorney contesting testimony from a plaintiff witness regarding the extent to which Garg suffered before dying.
During his closing argument, Boeing attorney Dan Webb stressed the company’s deep remorse, directly addressing Bhattacharya in court to express Boeing’s apology.
Webb also reminded the jury that their decision must center on one issue: a fair and reasonable amount of compensation for damages. He emphasized that the verdict must not be based on sympathy, echoing trial instructions from Judge Jorge Alonso.
This trial, for example, does not involve damages punishing Boeing; this trial only has to do with compensation,” Webb said.
“There is nothing in this case to punish Boeing, and yet when I sat here and heard Mr. Specter asking for $80 to $230 million, that’s not fair and reasonable compensation. He is asking to punish Boeing.”
Shikha Garg had been a consultant for the United Nations Development Program and was traveling to Nairobi for a UN Environment Assembly. She had been married just three months earlier, and her husband had canceled his flight at the last minute due to a meeting.
In a closing statement, plaintiff’s attorney Shanin Specter highlighted the loss of Garg’s potential when she died, recalling Bhattacharya’s testimony where he described his late wife as a “brilliant” young professional studying renewable energy.
“Part of Soumya’s grief is knowing that he doesn’t get to see her do that,” Specter said. “He doesn’t get to share that with her.”
