Nadia Milleron, whose daughter Samya Stumo died in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, holds a sign with photos of the crash victims during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on aviation safety and the future of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft . at the Hart Building in Washington, DC, October 29, 2019.
Tom Williams | CQ Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
A federal judge refused BoeingThe company's deal comes in connection with a criminal fraud charge related to fatal crashes of its 737 Max plane.
U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas expressed concern in his ruling Thursday that a government-appointed monitor, a condition of the plea deal, would include diversity, equity and inclusion policies .
He wrote: “In view of the foregoing, the Court is not satisfied that the Government will not select an observer without racial considerations and therefore will not act in a non-discriminatory manner. In a case of this magnitude, this is of utmost interest. “It is reasonable for the public to believe that this monitor selection is based solely on competence.”
In October, O'Connor ordered Boeing and the Justice Department to provide details on diversity, equity and inclusion policies when selecting the monitor.
According to a court document filed Thursday, the court gave Boeing and the Justice Department 30 days to decide how to proceed.
In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government by deceiving regulators about the installation of a flight control system on the Max that was later involved in the two crashes – a Lion Air flight in October 2018 – and an Ethiopian Airlines flight in March 2019. All 346 people on the flights were killed.
Boeing and the Justice Department did not immediately comment.
The victims' family members had objected to a government-appointed monitor as a condition of the settlement and sought to provide more input. They called it a “sweetheart deal.”
Erin Applebaum, an attorney representing one of the victim's family members, welcomed the deal. “We expect a significant renegotiation of the plea deal that includes terms that are truly commensurate with the seriousness of Boeing’s crimes,” Applebaum said in a statement. “It’s time for the DOJ to end its lenient treatment of Boeing and demand real accountability.”
The deal was intended to allow Boeing to avoid a lawsuit as it sought to put the company back on solid footing after a plane door burst in mid-air earlier this year, reigniting a safety crisis at the manufacturer .
The new settlement agreement came after the Justice Department said in May that Boeing had violated a previous settlement agreement that was set to expire days after the 737 Max 9's door plug popped off on Jan. 5. O'Connor said in his decision on Thursday that it was “not clear what Boeing did to violate the Deferred Prosecution Agreement.”
Under the new plea agreement, Boeing would face a fine of up to $487.2 million. However, the Justice Department recommended that the court credit Boeing with half of the amount paid under a previous agreement, resulting in a $243.6 million fine.
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