Lawyers tasked with representing Kenyan families of victims of the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane crash are seeking up to $58 billion (Sh7.5 trillion) in compensation.
The new compensation demands are more than double the initial request for the crash victim’s families.
In the past month, the US Department of Justice finalised a deal with Boeing, the American plane manufacturer,where Boeing plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and was to pay fines between $243.6 million (Sh31.6 billion) and $487 million (Sh63.1 billion), which is only a fraction of $24.8 billion (Sh3.2 trillion) in compensation that families of the crash victims had requested initially.
In a submission to a US District Court, the US law firm, Ribbeck Law Chartered (RLC) disputed the agreement basing its argument on the fact that the compensation amount was too little and is pushing for a much higher compensation amount of between $47 billion (Sh6 trillion) and $58 billion (Sh7.5 trillion) instead.
The firm further urged the Court to dismiss the proposed plea suggesting that Boeing should be required to pay a substantial fine which recognizes the value of each of the 346 people killed and the significant harm to others.
“RLC, on behalf of its clients, vehemently objects to the proposed plea agreement entered into by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Boeing concerning the recent criminal fraud charges. The proposed fine is grossly inadequate and fails to meet the standards set by prior precedents in penalising corporations for similar egregious conduct,” said Manuel von Ribbeck, founding partner at Ribbeck Law Chartered.
Manuel von Ribbeck further stated that the proposed compensation was 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.
Boeing in 2019 had agreed to a $2.5 billion (Sh 324.4 billion) settlement with the US Department of Justice in fines and compensation, which included a $500 million (Sh64.8 billion) fund to compensate families of the 346 victims of the two 737 Max crashes.
This was after the company had admitted full responsibility for the crash in a legal agreement, which stated that the aircraft manufacturer accepted responsibility for the crash of Ethiopian airlines flight 302 in March 2019, having produced an airplane that had unsafe conditions.
– By Ann Precious Kinyua
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