A judge has dismissed class action lawsuits against Boeing and Southwest Airlines

Class Actions Dismissed

After two fatal accidents in less than six months Boeing 737 MAX was founded worldwide. In October 2018, a Lion Air MAX plane crashed, and in March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines MAX plane crashed. After an investigation, passengers accused Southwest Airlines and Boeing of hiding certain things during the certification process.

Southwest Airlines was the original MAX 8 customer and was accused of working with Boeing to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration. Passengers also accused both companies of hiding the truth about the stability system that took control of both planes in the crashes and pointed the noses down.

In the lawsuit, the passengers alleged that Southwest and American Airlines overcharged passengers because of the accidents. They also believed that fares on routes served by MAX aircraft would drop if the truth was revealed.

The judge in the case, District Judge Andrew Oldham, said the plaintiff’s case had no merit. According to the judge, the passengers “complained of the past risk of personal injury to which they were allegedly exposed as a result of the defendants’ fraud.” Oldham added that the cost to passengers would have been much higher if the plane had been decommissioned earlier.

Pilots’ lawsuit against Boeing and MAX planes

In late October, a federal judge dismissed another lawsuit involving Boeing MAX planes. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Judge Stephen S. Seeger dismissed the pilot’s lawsuit against Boeing. The pilots sued Boeing over the failure System for increasing maneuverability (“MCAS”), which resulted in two accidents in 2018 and 2019.

The pilots claimed financial hardship due to the worldwide shutdown of MAX planes in the lawsuit, but a judge ruled against them. Although the judge found that there was indeed financial hardship, Illinois law states that “…is established only if the defendant’s conduct is so closely related to the plaintiff’s injury that it must be held legally responsible “.

Photo: United Airlines

Justice Seeger quoted the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia,

“Life is too short to carry every human action to its remotest consequences; “for want of a nail the kingdom was lost” is a comment on fate, not a statement of the main cause of action against the blacksmith.’

The judge found that the case was based on “stranger accidents” and that it would be extreme to go against Boeing and the airlines in every case. When the judge sided with the companies, he argued that the limit of liability would be stretched too far.

Seeger also found that pilots failed to be certified because the manuals did not contain adequate information about the MCAS system. For this reason, the case cannot be transferred to a US civil court.