Pain and terror felt by passengers before Boeing Max crashed can be considered, judge rules

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Airlines Writer

A federal judge is ruling that families of passengers who died in the second crash of a Boeing 737 Max can seek damages for the pain and terror suffered by their relatives before the plane crashed in Ethiopia. The ruling posted Tuesday night is a setback for Boeing, which had argued that evidence about the victims’ suffering is speculative and would have an unfair impact on jurors. A trial on compensation for victims’ families is scheduled to start June 20 in Chicago. It’s not a criminal trial. In 2021, Boeing reached a settlement with the Justice Department to avoid criminal prosecution for misleading federal regulators who approved the Max.