Boeing Execs Cleared in 737 MAX Door Plug Blowout Lawsuit

A Delaware court has dismissed a lawsuit against Boeing's executives over a door plug blowout on a 737 MAX 9 in 2024. The incident occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California.

The group of pension funds holding Boeing shares accused the company's management of ignoring safety-related red flags before the blowout. However, the Delaware Chancery Court found that Boeing's leadership handled safety and quality control information appropriately and worked to improve the company's safety culture.

The court noted that the safety reports the executives regularly received did not indicate 'serious misconduct or an impending corporate trauma.' The NTSB's final report on the incident, released last summer, faulted Boeing's safety and quality processes for not catching the problem and failing to properly document every person who worked on the door plug and the surrounding fuselage.