Boeing's responsibility in Ethiopian Airlines crash to be decided later
The civil trial over the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash—which took 157 lives in March 2019—has started in Chicago.
The disaster was traced to faulty flight-control software on the Boeing 737 Max, which pushed the plane's nose down because of bad sensor data.
This came just months after a similar crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people.
Boeing has admitted fault for both tragedies.
Boeing also facing federal fraud charges
Right now, the court is just deciding how much compensation two families should get; Boeing's responsibility isn't up for debate this time.
Only these two cases are moving forward due to a government shutdown, with jury selection kicking off November 3 under Judge Jorge Luis Alonso.
Meanwhile, Boeing is also facing federal fraud charges for allegedly misleading regulators about the Max software—a proposed deal could let them avoid prosecution by paying $1.1 billion and making safety changes, but it still needs court approval.
Fourteen other lawsuits from this crash are still unresolved as legal battles continue.