Lawyers advise Ethiopian not to settle with Boeing

Ethiopian Airlines, which lost 157 passengers and crew in the second fatal crash of a B737-8 in early 2019, has been advised not to accept a settlement offer of US$500m to US$600m by Boeing, but to sue the manufacturer for punitive damages in the US, reports The Seattle Times. In a letter to CEO Tewolde GebreMariam on January 24, 2021, Chicago-based law firm DiCello Levitt Gutzler - which Ethiopian Airlines hired to provide advice on its claims against Boeing – warned the offer fell “grossly short” of what the airline could win before a US jury. This was particularly so since Boeing recently accepted responsibility for criminal fraud during the aircraft’s certification by regulators, said the letter signed by co-founding partner Adam Levitt. The settlement Boeing offered was “a mere fraction” of the actual damage, the lawyers told Tewolde, and accepting it would “be a tremendous political and financial mistake for Ethiopian Airlines,” they claimed. The letter conveyed the attorneys’ concern that direct settlement negotiations between Boeing and the airline’s management were close to finalisation and that a “financially disastrous” deal for the airline may be imminent.<br/>