A U.S. district judge appointed an impartial screen to check the company’s development on improvements to its health culture. The families that lost loved ones in two fatal Boeing 737 Max plane crashes asked a U.S. district judge to appoint an independent monitor.
According to a request that the families ‘ attorneys filed in federal district court on Monday, the screen may spent five years reviewing and suggesting changes to the plane manufacturer’s health and quality assurance processes. The monitor is an outside aviation expert who is not affiliated with Boeing.
” Boeing’s lack of full and clear security work requires an intense answer”, Paul Cassell, a laws professor at the University of Utah and an attorney representing several of the people, said in a statement. ” Simply an independent, justly appointed check you restore Boeing’s trust and implement the security measures that the flying public deserves”.
The Justice Department will decide whether to prosecute Boeing on fraud charges following the two Max crashes, which claimed the lives of 346 people in 2018 and 2019 respectively, as the families are awaiting the motion.
Since Boeing and federal prosecutors entered a 2021 agreement that made it possible for the company to avoid criminal prosecution if it met certain requirements for the next three years, those charges have been on hold.
The Justice Department’s findings in May made it clear that Boeing had broken the terms of the agreement, allowing federal prosecutors to consider bringing criminal charges against the business.
Although it is anticipated to make a decision by July 7th, it is still unclear what the Justice Department will do next. News outlets have reported conflicting information about what to expect in the last few days. The Justice Department was thinking about allowing Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution, according to a report from The New York Times on Friday. Since then, Reuters and The Washington Post have reported that federal prosecutors have been recommending criminal charges. Based on anonymous sources, all three reports are true.
The Justice Department said Friday  , it had not yet made a decision.
The victims ‘ families have requested an independent monitor to monitor Boeing’s progress, and this is not the first time. The request was refrained from a federal district judge in Texas in 2023 because there was no proof Boeing posed a threat to public safety.
That’s no longer the case, the attorneys for the victims ‘ families argued in court documents Monday.
Attorneys cited recent safety incidents, including a panel that detonated a 737 Max 9 plane in mid-air in January, and recent allegations from whistleblowers that the company did n’t prioritize safety in its factories. The attorneys also cited Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun’s statements at a recent Congressional hearing, in which the executive claimed he was “proud” of the company’s safety procedures and practices.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s aeronautics professor Javier de Luis suggested serving as the monitor, according to those attorneys. De Luis lost his sister, Graziella, when a Boeing 737 Max plane crashed in Ethiopia in March 2019. That incident occurred just months after another Boeing 737 Max incidentally occurred in Indonesia in October 2018.
De Luis was a member of a panel of experts that the Federal Aviation Administration had set up to examine Boeing’s safety culture following the fatal Max crashes. In a report released in February, the panel , found Boeing’s push to improve its safety culture has not taken hold at all levels , of the company and that Boeing needs to make substantive upgrades.
The proposed independent monitor would review several aspects of Boeing’s safety culture and manufacturing process, according to court documents released on Monday, despite the specifics of the responses from Boeing and the Justice Department. The monitor would track, among those on the list, how frequently aircraft were delayed for more than 12 hours due to mechanical issues, how frequently suppliers struggled to deliver on time, and how frequently Boeing moved aircraft along the factory line with shoddy work.
Additionally, according to the proposed order, Boeing would set up a phone line where employees could speak with the monitor privately about problems or misconduct.
Last week, in a letter to the Justice Department, Cassell asked federal prosecutors to move quickly to prosecute the company and to , fine Boeing$ 24.8 billion. The sum is justified “because Boeing’s crime is the deadliest corporate crime in U. S. history”, Cassell wrote.
Boeing did n’t respond to a request for comment Monday. The business previously stated that it believes it has fulfilled its obligations under the deferred prosecution agreement and will continue to “engage transparently” with the Justice Department.
According to the proposal submitted on Monday, Boeing would pay for the independent monitor.
___
© 2024 The Seattle Times
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
