Boeing's offer to crash
families rejected
Boeing has announced that it intends to offer the families of relatives killed in the two 737 Max Air Crashes compensation in the sum of $144,500.
Boeing said that it is accepting claims from family members who lost loved ones in the two crashes but that such claims must be submitted to Boeing before the beginning of next year and payments will come from a $50m financial assistance fund set up by Boeing.
However, lawyers acting for families of the victims of the two crashes have dismissed the offers as totally inadequate and have accused the company of engaging in a publicity stunt. Families of many of the victims have already commenced Court Proceedings in various jurisdictions.
The catastrophic crashes of the new Boeing 737 Max occurred in Indonesia and Ethiopia and more than 340 people lost their lives in these crashes. Spokespersons for the families said that the offers of settlement are totally inadequate and that the families want honest answers for what was the cause of the two accidents.
Initially Boeing said that it had set aside $100m to compensate the families but then said that $50m would be paid in direct compensation to the families and the remainder would be applied towards education and development programmes in the communities in which the families of the deceased live.
Whilst representatives of the families have dismissed the offer and have queried exactly how the remaining $50m will be spent and have called into question the bona fides of the offer Boeing made it clear that acceptance of the initial offer from the fund will not prejudice the right of any bereaved person to bring separate Court Proceedings.
All Boeing 737 Max Aircrafts remain grounded worldwide pending clearance by international Aviation Regulators.
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This document is for information purposes only and does not purport to represent legal advice.
© O’Rourke Reid 2019