Boeing Avoids Criminal Charges in Max Crashes

0:00It's March 31st. This is Canada News Today, local news powered by AI. A federal appeals court just shot down a push from dozens of families who lost loved ones in two deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes. The three-judge panel in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on Tuesday that prosecutors didn't break the Crime Victims Rights Act, so the criminal case stays closed. The saga started back in 2021 when the Justice Department charged Boeing with fraud but cut a deal to defer prosecution if they paid up and fixed issues. Boeing slipped up in 2024, faced a guilty plea that a Texas judge rejected, then negotiated a new agreement to drop charges. Entirely, which got approved last November. Families are furious with their lawyer Paul Cacell calling the decision badly flawed and saying Boeing dodges accountability for 346 deaths. He claims victims weren't looped in properly during talks starting in 2020.

1:01Boeing points out over 60 families back the deal. They've showed out big compensation and taken steps to boost safety. Those crashes hit hard, lion air in 2018, off Indonesia and Ethiopian airlines in 2019, both down by a faulty software system that pushed the nose down based on bad sensor data. Families couldn't recover, leading to a worldwide grounding for 20 months. Prosecutors say they weighed family input all along and dropping the case avoids a trial risk where Boeing might walk free. With this ruling, the focus shifts back to Boeing's safety fixes, but families worry it leaves too much unchecked.