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A federal court this week dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by flight attendants against Boeing over the company’s handling of the 737 Max.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman sided with the airplane manufacturer and against a group of Southwest Airlines flight attendants who claimed Boeing’s handling of the 737 Max resulted in their lost wages. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials grounded all 737 Max jets in March 2019 after two deadly crashes, which prompted Southwest to cancel thousands of flights on which the plaintiffs expected to work.
The flight attendants argued in their class action lawsuit that Boeing, which was later found to have concealed key safety data about one of the 737 Max’s operating systems, was liable for their loss of income.
Judge Gettleman disagreed.
“The 72 page, 380 paragraph complaint is long on the details of defendant’s problems with the aircraft … Southwest Airlines’ order for 150 Max aircraft … and defendant’s alleged efforts to hide the problems from the public,” he wrote in his dismissal of the case. “The complaint is short, however, on how defendant’s efforts to hide the problems affected the individual plaintiffs.”
Among the class action lawsuit’s shortcomings, according to Judge Gettleman, was the fact the flight attendants offered no specific allegations they were scheduled to work on flights that had to be canceled when the 737 Max fleet was grounded.
The class action lawsuit was filed in federal court in Illinois in March 2020 by eight flight attendants hoping to represent all other Southwest Airlines attendants whose assignments and schedules were affected by the 737 Max grounding.
Lion Air Flight 610 — a Boeing 737 Max jet — crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia in October 2018, killing all 189 people on board.
In March 2019, a 737 Max flying under the banner of Ethiopian Airlines crashed and killed all 157 people on board.
It was later determined the 737’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System sensors triggered an automated guidance feature that could not be overridden. That feature forced the planes’ noses down, causing the crashes.
Last week, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion to avoid further criminal prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice for withholding information from the FAA about the maneuvering system. The company also agreed to admit its wrongdoing, which caused key data to be left out of operating manuals and pilots to be left unaware of the danger.
If Boeing complies with all the terms, the government has agreed to drop the case at the end of three years.
Are you a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, or a worker for any other airline, who lost wages due to the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Seth A. Katz and Michael Mauro of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine PC; Bradley R. Irwin, Roger D. Fraley Jr. and Ken Falkenstein of Irwin Fraley PLLC; and Marvin A. Miller and Andy Szot of Miller Law LLC.
The 737 Max Class Action Lawsuit is Christensen, et al. v. The Boeing Co., Case No. 1:20-cv-01813, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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