AI-171 victim families hire firm that sued Boeing for 737 lapses

Families of 65 victims from Air India Flight AI-171's deadly crash have hired Beasley Allen, a prominent US aviation law firm that represented families in the Boeing 737 MAX disasters, to pursue legal action against Boeing and Air India.

- Maulik Pathak

The firm, led by aviation attorney D Michael Andrews, is exploring product liability claims against Boeing in US federal courts and Montreal Convention claims against Air India in UK courts, though no lawsuits have been filed yet.

"Our firm presently represents families of 65 victims. We are determined to follow the data to uncover how and why this tragedy occurred," Andrews said. "The families deserve answers and are pleading for transparency."

The Boeing 737 MAX cases that established Beasley Allen's reputation involved two crashes that killed 346 people between 2018 and 2019-Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in Ethiopia. Boeing ultimately paid $2.5 billion under a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, including a $243.6 million criminal penalty, $1.77 billion to airlines, and $500 million for crash victim families.

Boeing has since settled more than 90% of the claims and paid billions more in individual compensation to families, with the company acknowledging liability for the crashes caused by the faulty Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), US Department of Justice records showed.