Boeing faces 2nd US trial over fatal 2019 737 MAX crash

A federal court in Chicago began hearing Monday a complaint from a Canadian who lost multiple relatives in a 737 MAX crash, the second trial following the 2019 calamity.

The case is brought by Manant Vaidya, whose sister Kosha and parents Pannagesh and Hansini Vaidya, perished in the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 in all.

Vaidya also lost his brother-in-law and two young nieces. Relatives of these victims sued Boeing separately in a case that was settled out of court in July 2025.

Jury selection is expected to commence Monday, with opening statements possible Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.

"It is hard to believe that my entire family was wiped out in an instant incident in such a horrific way," Vaidya says in a statement on the website of his attorneys at Clifford Law Firm.

"I still cry and my wife, Hiral, still cries when we think of the horror of the last moments of our loved ones' lives."

The family, who lived in Canada, was on a trip to Kenya, the homeland of Kosha.

Boeing has apologized for the disaster and for a fatal Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October 2018. The MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) flight stabilizing software was implicated in both crashes, which together claimed 346 lives.

Boeing is "deeply sorry" to the victims and committed to "fully and fairly compensate" families "and have accepted legal responsibility for the accidents," a Boeing spokesperson said. 

"While we have resolved the vast majority of these claims through settlements, families are also entitled to pursue their claims through damages trials in court, and we respect their right to do so."

In November, a US jury in the same Chicago courthouse determined that Boeing must pay $28.45 million to the family of an Indian victim.