From the legal eagles at The Volokh Conspiracy, October 24:
Judge O'Connor Rules that the Boeing 737 MAX Crashes Victims' Families Represent Protected "Crime Victims" and Can Seek Boeing's Prosecution
"In sum, but for Boeing’s criminal conspiracy to defraud the FAA, 346 people would not have lost their lives in the crashes."
Late Friday afternoon, Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that families whose relatives were killed in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes represented "crime victims" under the Crime Victims' Rights Act (CVRA). And because the Justice Department never conferred with the families before reaching the secret deferred prosecution deal with Boeing, the Department violated the CVRA. Judge O'Connor ordered further proceedings on the appropriate remedy for the Department's violations of law. As the lead attorney representing the families, I will argue that the appropriate remedy (among others) is to rescind the provision in Boeing's deal barring its prosecution for lying to the FAA–lies that, as the judge has ruled, killed 346 people.
While news reports have already flashed the headline about the judge's important ruling, many of the details and legal pleadings are difficult to find. This post summarizes the case, with links to important documents.
As I blogged about previously, this case arises from the Justice Department secretly negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with Boeing concerning its crimes connected to the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes. Both crashes were caused by a new part Boeing built into the 737 MAX–a software system called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Tragically, in the two crashes, MCAS improperly activated and drove the planes down. On October 28, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed shortly after takeoff into the Java Sea, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. A little more than four months later, on March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 suffered the same fate, also crashing shortly after takeoff and killing all 157 passengers and crew....
....MUCH MORE
Sometimes I really appreciate U.S. Federal Judges.
