Jury Orders Boeing To Pay $49.5m Damages To Family Of Woman Killed In 2019 Crash

A national assemblage has awarded $49.5 cardinal to nan family of a 24-year-old world nonprofit worker killed successful nan 2019 clang of a Boeing 737 Max pitchy successful Ethiopia while walking to her first awesome assignment.

The verdict, reached Wednesday aft a proceedings successful national tribunal successful Chicago, resolves 1 of nan past remaining wrongful decease lawsuits revenge successful relationship pinch nan disaster that killed each 157 group aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Samya Stumo, who grew up successful Sheffield, Massachusetts, had precocious joined a nonprofit focused connected strengthening wellness systems successful processing countries. A 2015 postgraduate of nan University of Massachusetts Amherst, she was walking to Uganda for what would person been her first awesome task pinch nan statement erstwhile nan level collapsed minutes aft takeoff from Addis Ababa connected March 10, 2019.

A spokesperson for UMass aft nan clang described her arsenic personification known “for engaging others by earning their respect, relationship and trust.”

Jurors awarded $21 cardinal for nan symptom and suffering and affectional distress that Stumo knowledgeable aboard nan doomed flight, $16.5 cardinal for nan nonaccomplishment of companionship suffered by her family and $12 cardinal for their grief, according to attorneys representing her estate.

“We are gratified for nan opportunity to effort nan compensatory damages case," attorneys Shanin Specter and Elizabeth Crawford said successful a connection Wednesday evening announcing nan verdict.

It is nan 2nd verdict tied to nan crash. Boeing has reached confidential pre-trial settlements successful astir of nan dozens of wrongful decease lawsuits revenge successful relationship pinch nan Ethiopian Airlines disaster and a akin 737 Max clang 5 months earlier disconnected nan seashore of Indonesia that together killed 346 people.

The fatal crashes became a defining situation for Boeing and nan 737 Max program. Investigators recovered that a flight-control strategy many times forced nan chemoreceptor of nan then-new planes downward based connected faulty readings from a azygous sensor, and pilots successful some crashes were incapable to regain control.

The verdict follows a November 2025 assemblage grant of $28.45 cardinal to nan family of Shikha Garg, a United Nations biology advisor who besides died successful nan 2019 crash. That lawsuit marked nan first civilian assemblage proceedings stemming from nan disaster, pinch jurors likewise tasked only pinch calculating damages because Boeing has accepted liability.

“We are profoundly sorry to each who mislaid loved ones connected Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. While we person resolved astir each of these claims done settlements, families are entitled to prosecute their claims done nan tribunal process, and we respect their correct to do so," a Boeing spokesperson said Thursday successful a statement.

The Ethiopian Airlines clang prompted a worldwide grounding of nan 737 Max that lasted much than a twelvemonth and triggered aggregate investigations into Boeing’s information civilization and regulatory oversight.

Federal prosecutors later charged Boeing pinch misleading regulators astir nan Max's flight-control system, though successful November, nan national judge successful Texas overseeing nan long-running criminal lawsuit approved a Justice Department petition to disregard it. Prosecutors reached an statement pinch Boeing, requiring nan institution to put an further $1 cardinal successful fines, family compensation and information improvements.

Stumo’s family has been among nan astir outspoken relatives seeking accountability from Boeing and changes to national aviation oversight. Her father, Michael Stumo, has publically pressed Boeing, regulators and Congress complete what families viewed arsenic failures that allowed nan 737 Max to support flying aft nan first clang disconnected nan seashore of Indonesia.