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US judge: Passengers in fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes are 'crime victims'
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An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8, on a flight from Miami to New York City, comes in for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, US, on March 12, 2019. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)
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US judge in Texas ruled on Friday that people killed in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes are legally considered "crime victims," a designation that will determine what remedies should be imposed.
In December, some crash victims' relatives said the U.S. Justice Department violated their legal rights when it struck a January 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the planemaker over two crashes that killed 346 people.
The families argued the government "lied and violated their rights through a secret process" and asked US District Judge Reed O'Connor to rescind Boeing's immunity from criminal prosecution - which was part of the $2.5 billion agreement - and order the planemaker publicly arraigned on felony charges.
O'Connor ruled on Friday that "in sum, but for Boeing's criminal conspiracy to defraud the (Federal Aviation Administration), 346 people would not have lost their lives in the crashes."
Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said the ruling "is a tremendous victory" and "sets the stage for a pivotal hearing, where we will present proposed remedies that will allow criminal prosecution to hold Boeing fully accountable."
Boeing did not immediately comment.
After the families filed the legal challenge saying their rights were violated under the Crime Victims' Rights Act, Attorney General Merrick Garland met with some of them but stood by the plea deal, which included a $244 million fine, $1.77 billion compensation to airlines and a $500 million crash-victim fund.
