Lawyers for relatives of some of those killed in Boeing Max airliner disasters requested a federal judge on Wednesday to reject a plea agreement reached between the aircraft manufacturer and US prosecutors, claiming it is too lenient and allows Boeing to dodge blame for inflicting 346 deaths.
Some lawyers contended that the Justice Department has punished Boeing unfairly since the business is a key contractor for the United States government.
Boeing agreed on July 7 to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to conduct fraud in order to resolve claims that it mislead Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved the 737 Max and subsequently violated a 2021 settlement that would have shielded the firm from criminal prosecution.
Under the terms of this month's agreement, Boeing would pay a minimum punishment of $243.6 million, invest $455 million in compliance and safety measures, and serve a three-year probation. The Justice Department and Boeing would designate a monitor to oversee the company's compliance.
U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, can accept or reject the corporate plea agreement and proposed punishment, which would likely result in additional negotiations between Boeing and prosecutors.
Lawyers for relatives of some of the passengers killed in two 737 Max disasters — in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 — have requested the judge to reject the agreement and instead arrange a jury trial within 70 days.
One of the lawyers, Paul Cassell, said “the only way to assure public confidence in the outcome here is for the court — not the parties — to determine the appropriate sentence.”
Cassell included redacted information that he said gave further evidence of Boeing wrongdoing and was filed under seal as part of civil lawsuits against the American aerospace giant.
“Perhaps this deal serves the public interest — although in the sections that follow the families argue strenuously to the contrary. But what cannot be debated is that the parties are attempting to force the court to swallow the deal whole,” Cassell wrote.
In a separate motion, Adrian Vuckovich, a lawyer for relatives of victims of the first crash, said the Justice Department has favored Boeing over the families because Boeing is a big government contractor.
“To actually charge Boeing and its senior management with the actual crimes committed, including the homicide of 346 passengers, would make any explanation of ongoing business dealings difficult and uncomfortable, particularly in an election year,” Vuckovich wrote.
Sanjiv Singh, a lawyer for another group of families who had relatives killed when Lion Air Flight 610 went down in the Java Sea, joined Cassell in asking Judge O'Connor to reject the plea deal. Singh's filing said that as many as 70 families in the Southeast Asian were denied adequate restitution because they were “pressured to sign likely illegal releases which preyed upon them at their weakest, most vulnerable moments” soon after the October 2019 crash.
The families' lawyers also argued that the size of the fine Boeing would pay was far too small. They further argued that the court, and not the Justice Department, should pick the monitor to oversee Boeing during its probation.
Boeing declined to comment Wednesday. The company and the Justice Department have 14 days to respond to the families' filings.