(Reuters) – Lawyers for families of a fatal Boeing Co 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia are seeking testimony from the planemaker’s Chief Executive Dave Calhoun and his predecessor Dennis Muilenburg, among other current and former employees, according to a court filing.
The Boeing 737 MAX crash on Ethiopian Airlines on March 10, 2019, occurred five months after a similar disaster on a Lion Air flight, together killing 346 people and sparking a hailstorm of investigations and lawsuits.
While Boeing has mostly settled civil litigation stemming from the Lion Air crash, it is still facing over 100 lawsuits in Chicago federal court related to the second crash.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers, who are focusing their case on what Boeing knew about the causes of the first crash and why the plane continued to fly, want to schedule depositions of Calhoun and Muilenburg between May 3 and June 18, the filing shows.
Families of the victims also want to know what Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) management, who in November lifted a 20-month safety ban of the MAX, understood about the first crash.
In a letter to the ranking members of the House and Senate transportation committees on Friday, the families urged lawmakers to demand that the FAA turn over internal emails and documents spanning the Lion Air crash and one month after the Ethiopian crash.
“There is serious unfinished business,” said the letter, reviewed by Reuters.
A Senate report in December detailed a number of lapses in aviation safety oversight and failed leadership in the FAA.
The report also found that the FAA leaders involved in the MAX recertification obstructed a Department of Transportation watchdog review of the regulator’s oversight. That report was released on Wednesday.
Separately, Boeing’s board of directors is facing an investor lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court, where a complaint freshly unsealed earlier this month alleged breach of fiduciary duties and gross negligence by failing “to monitor the safety of Boeing’s 737 MAX airplanes.”
Last month, Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department over the 737 MAX crashes, including a $243.6 million fine.
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