Boeing settled Friday with a Canadian man whose wife and three children were killed in the 2019 deadly 2019 Ethiopian plane crash, avoiding the first trial related to the devastating incident that led to the global foundation of the Max Jets.
A jury trial in the Chicago federal court is scheduled to begin Monday to determine the losses of Canada’s Paul Njoroge. His family headed to Kenya on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March 2019 when it broke down and fell to the ground. The wreckage killed all 157 people on the ship.
Njoroge, 41, had planned to testify how the crash affected his life. He couldn’t return to his family residence in Toronto because the memories were so painful. He has never been able to find a job. He has been criticized by relatives for not traveling with his wife and children.
“His sorrow and grief and his emotional stress are complicated,” said Robert Clifford, an attorney for Njorogue. “He was troubled by nightmares and the loss of his wife and children.”
The terms of the settlement are not disclosed publicly.
Clifford said his client intends to seek “millions” of compensation on behalf of his wife and children, but he refused to publicly assign a sum before the trial.
“The aviation team at Clifford Law Firm has been working around the clock to prepare for the trial, but the mediators are able to help the parties reach an agreement,” Clifford said in a statement Friday.
A Boeing spokesman said Friday that the company did not comment.
The lawsuit is not expected to delve into the technology involved in the highest version of Boeing’s best-selling 737 aircraft, the root of the company’s ongoing troubles since the Ethiopian collapse and the previous year in Indonesia. 346 people, including passengers and crew, died in these crashes.
Boeing accepts responsibility for the crash
In 2021, Chicago-based Boeing took responsibility for the collapse of Ethiopia in an agreement with victim families, allowing them to make personal claims in U.S. courts rather than their home country. Citizens from 35 countries were killed. Several victims’ families have settled. The terms of these agreements are not disclosed either.
Shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa Ball International Airport, the jetliner heading to Nairobi lost control and his nose fell into barren land.
Investigators determined that the Ethiopia and Indonesia collapse was caused by a system-dependent system that relies on sensors that provided false readings and pushed the aircraft down, leaving pilots unable to regain control. Max Jets were taken root worldwide after the Ethiopian crash until the company redesigned the system.
This year, Boeing reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid criminal prosecution in two crashes.
Among those killed were Njolog’s wife Carolyne and three children, Kellie, 6, and Rubi, 4 months old, nine months old, the youngest to die on the plane. Njoroge also lost his mother-in-law and his family had a separate case.
Njoroge met his wife in Nairobi and lived in Canada at the time of the crash. He plans to join his family in Kenya later.
He testified before the U.S. Congress in 2019, and had repeatedly imagined the suffering of his family in flight, which lasted only six minutes. He depicts his wife trying to put the baby on her lap, with two children nearby.
“I stayed up late, thinking about the horror they must have endured,” Njorogg said. “Six minutes will be embedded in my mind forever. I’m not there to help them. I can’t save them.”
