Families Urge Court to Reinstate Boeing Fraud Charge

Families of victims from two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes urged a federal appeals court on Thursday to reinstate a criminal charge against the aircraft manufacturer, arguing that a recent settlement deal unfairly shielded the company from trial.

The appeal, heard by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, seeks to overturn a lower court's dismissal of a conspiracy charge accusing Boeing of misleading Federal Aviation Administration regulators about a flight-control system linked to the 2018 and 2019 accidents. Those crashes, involving a Lion Air flight off Indonesia's coast and an Ethiopian Airlines flight near Addis Ababa, killed all 346 people aboard. More than a dozen family members attended the hearing, while others followed via livestream.

Paul Cassell, an attorney representing 31 families, contended that federal prosecutors violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act by negotiating the deal without adequately consulting the victims' relatives. The agreement, reached last year, allows Boeing to avoid prosecution by committing an additional $1.1 billion toward fines, victim compensation, and safety improvements. Cassell argued the process...