US Jury Awards $29M to Family of Irish UN Employee Killed in Boeing Crash
A US jury has awarded $29 million in damages to the family of Irish UN employee Michael 'Mick' Ryan, who died in the 2019 Boeing 737 MAX crash. The crash occurred on an Ethiopian Airlines flight that killed all 157 people on board.
Ryan was a deputy chief engineer with the UN's World Food Programme and had worked in various countries including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia. He had also been involved in humanitarian work during the Ebola crisis in Liberia and with Rohingya refugees.
The civil suit against Boeing is one of the final remaining cases pending after two deadly MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed a total of 346 lives. The majority of claims have been settled out of court, but Ryan's family refused to accept money from Boeing directly.
Boeing has apologized for the crashes and acknowledged that anti-stall software was implicated in both accidents.