French widow sues Boeing for at least $276 mln over Ethiopian crash

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A French woman whose husband died in the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX airliner in Ethiopia has filed a U.S. lawsuit against the plane maker, seeking at least 276 million U.S. dollars in damages.

The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March killed all 157 passengers and crew aboard and followed the death in October of 189 people on a Lion Air 737 MAX which plunged into the ocean off Indonesia in similar circumstances.

Dozens of families have sued Boeing over the Lion Air crash, and several lawsuits have been lodged over the Ethiopian crash near the capital Addis Ababa, which led airlines around the world to ground the Boeing 737 MAX.

Chinese family and friends mourn victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash at the scene of the crash, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 13, 2019. /VCG Photo

The lawsuit on behalf of Nadege Dubois-Seex, whose husband Jonathan Seex was a Swedish and Kenyan citizen and chief executive of the Tamarind Group of Companies, was filed in a U.S. District Court in Chicago, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

The complaint, which was filed on Monday, alleges Boeing failed to inform pilots properly about the risks posed by software meant to prevent the 737 MAX from stalling which repeatedly lowered the plane's nose due to a faulty sensor data. U.S. attorney Nomaan Husain told a Paris news conference his client was seeking a minimum of 276 million U.S. dollars in damages.

“We have learned that Boeing relied on a single sensor that had been previously flagged in over 200 incident reports submitted to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),” Husain said in a statement.

Two Boeing spokeswomen in Europe did not reply to messages seeking comment, while a Boeing spokesman in the U.S. did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

A woman puts flowers next to the portrait pictures of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 plane crash, Ethiopia, April 18, 2019. /VCG Photo

“Our family has lost its shining knight and the world has lost a brilliant entrepreneur,” Dubois-Seex, a French citizen, said in a statement.

Boeing said last week it had completed an update to the 737 MAX's MCAS software and was in the process of submitting a plan for related pilot training to the FAA.

It is unclear when the 737 MAX aircraft will receive FAA approval to return to service. Safety regulators in other countries have said they plan to independently assess Boeing's fixes before giving their approval.

(Cover photo: A flower-adorned memorial arch stands at the site of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 crash in Ejere, Ethiopia, March 14, 2019. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters