By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – A jury in Chicago awarded $49.5 million to the family of a woman who was killed in the March 2019 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX.
The jury late on Wednesday awarded the family of Samya Stumo $21 million for her experience on the fatal flight, $16.5 million for the family’s loss of companionship and $12 million for the family’s grief.
This is the second jury verdict stemming from the fatal crash. In November, a jury ordered Boeing to pay more than $28 million to the family of a United Nations environmental worker who was killed in the 2019 crash.
Boeing faced dozens of lawsuits after fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people.
Stumo, 24, worked for the nonprofit organization ThinkWell, and was a passenger on the flight from Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya.
Boeing did not contest liability and claims for punitive damages were dismissed against company executives and the plane component manufacturers. Lawyers for the Stumo family are trying to get an appellate court to reinstate punitive damage claims.
The U.S. planemaker has settled more than 90% of the dozens of civil lawsuits related to the two accidents, paying out billions of dollars in compensation through lawsuits, a non-prosecution agreement and other payments.
“While we have resolved nearly all of these claims through settlements, families are entitled to pursue their claims through the court process, and we respect their right to do so,” Boeing said on Thursday.
In March, a U.S. appeals court upheld a ruling approving the Justice Department decision to dismiss a criminal case against Boeing, which allowed the planemaker to avoid prosecution on a charge stemming from the two 737 MAX crashes.
Boeing had agreed to plead guilty in 2024 to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge. After President Donald Trump took office, DOJ reversed course in May 2025 and dropped the demand for a guilty plea.
Under the deal, Boeing agreed to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims fund, on top of a new $243.6 million fine and $455 million to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety, and quality programs.
(Reporting by David ShepardsonEditing by Bill Berkrot)
