ADDIS ABABA – US law firm Ribbeck pushed Boeing to pay about 58 billion USD compensations to Ethiopian Airlines crash victims’ families.
In a press release sent to The Ethiopian Herald, Ribbeck Law Chartered stated that it is seeking up to 58 billion USDcompensationsfor families of victims who died from Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max crash in 2019.
Lawyers representing families of victims of the 2019 plane crash are pushing for more compensation as they dispute a new agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Boeing.
On July 24, 2024, the American Plane maker finalized an agreement to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and to pay fines ranging between 243.6 million and487 million USD.
The fines are a fraction of 24.8 billion in compensation that families of the crash victims had initially requested, however, the U.S. law firm has disputedthat the agreement to pay the compensation amount is too little.
The law firm is pushing for a much higher compensation amounting 47 to 58 billion USD they say is more in line with previous criminal fraud cases involving corporate firms and where larger fines amounting to billions of dollars were charged-even when they did not involve deaths.
Founding Partner at Ribbeck Law Chartered, Manuel von Ribbeck said that the proposed fine is grossly inadequate and fails to meet the standards set by prior precedents in penalizing corporations for similar egregious conduct.
The proposed fine for Boeing is a mere fraction of these amounts, failing to reflect the catastrophic consequences of their actions and undermining public trust in the justice system, Ribbeck added.
An Ethiopian Airlines jet headed to Nairobi from Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport in Ethiopia crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 149 on board including 9Ethiopians amongst 35 other nationalities.The victims need additional compensation of billions of USD from Boeing.
Another plane of the same model was involved in a crash less than five months earlier, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with 189 people on board.
Ribbeck argued that the DOJ’s recommendation does not align with the scale of the wrongdoing and sets a dangerous precedent that large corporations can evade appropriate punishment for criminal activities that jeopardize public safety and trust.
He added that Boeing’s actions were not just regulatory mistakes, but they were deliberate and deceitful measures to prioritize profit over human lives. Such conduct demands the highest levels of accountability and a penalty that truly reflects the magnitude of the crime
BY MISGANAW ASNAKE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 14 AUGUST 2024
