Pilots File Boeing 737 MAX Class Action After Recent Crashes

Two pilots have brought a class action lawsuit against Boeing alleging that they suffered damages after two of their 737 MAX 8 airplanes crashed and the rest were subsequently grounded.

Plaintiffs Pilot Y and Pilot Z brought this class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and more than 100 other pilots stating that they have lost wages and suffered notable monetary and non-monetary damages.

Pilot Y’s Boeing class action lawsuit states, “the Plaintiff suffered severe emotional and mental distress when the Plaintiff was compelled to fly the MAX – placing the Plaintiff’s life and the lives of the crews and passengers in danger – despite the growing awareness of the dangerous nature of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (the ‘MCAS’) and other problems that BOEING had previously concealed or failed to disclose to the Plaintiff.”

The Pilot Y plaintiff alleges that Boeing learned that its major competitor, Airbus, was launching a new airplane, advertised as the “world’s most advanced and fuel-efficient single-aisle aircraft” and made a decision to compete by modifying an existing airplane, the BOEING 737NG. This airplane would become the MAX.

The Boeing class action complaint states that the company would save money by changing their existing airplane, rather than designing a new one.

The plaintiff also argues that Boeing replaced the engine in the BOEING 737NG with a larger one and also had to place the engine by the airplane’s wings.

“The more powerful engines and their new location gave the MAX a propensity to abnormally pitch up under certain flight conditions, creating a risk that the airplane would suffer an aerodynamic stall and crash,” the Boeing class action lawsuit argues.

One crash involved an Ethopian Airlines flight which killed 157 passengers and the other involved a flight on Lion Air which killed 189.

After the two crashes with the new planes, the pilots union met with Boeing officials, who denied that they should have notified the pilots of the modifications that it had made to the airplanes, the class action lawsuit claims.

Nevertheless, the pilots were told that they were required to fly the planes. “The stress caused by this untenable situation manifested itself in the form of frequent headaches, nausea, aches, pains, and tense muscles, chest pain and rapid heartbeat, and insomnia; physical symptoms that are not conducive to operating a commercial aircraft,” the Boeing class action lawsuit alleges.

When the MAX planes were grounded after the crashes, the pilots contend in the class action lawsuit, that they didn’t have any aircraft to fly and many of them were terminated from their jobs and thus had to spend time training on new aircraft.

The Boeing class action lawsuit maintains, “The grounding of the MAX directly reduced, or in some cases eliminated, MAX pilots’ income and significantly interrupted their careers; the grounding was especially costly to pilots just starting their careers as well as those changing jobs to work for an airline that operated the MAX, or those nearing mandatory retirement at the age of 65.”

The Boeing class action lawsuit claims strict products liability, negligence and willful and wanton conduct, breach of warranty, fraudulent misrepresentation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The pilots are represented by Patrick M. Jones and Sarah M. Beaujour of PMJ PLLC and Joseph C. Wheeler of International Aerospace Law & Policy Group.

The Boeing 737 MAX Class Action Lawsuits are Pilot Y v. The Boeing Company, Case No. 2019-CH-0803, and Pilot Z v. The Boeing Company, Case No. 2019-CH-08045, both in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division, in Illinois.

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