On 12 November 2025, in a landmark ruling, The Boeing Company was ordered by a federal jury in Chicago to pay over US $28 million to the family of Shikha Garg — a United Nations environmental consultant who perished aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (ET302) on a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
The verdict addresses injuries from a crash on 10 March 2019 shortly after departure from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (ADD), Ethiopia — and represents the first civil courtroom judgement among dozens of lawsuits tied to the two fatal 737 MAX accidents that killed 346 people.
Details of the US $28 million Verdict of Shikha Garg
According to Reuters, a federal jury in Chicago ordered Boeing to pay more than $28 million to the family of Shikha Garg, who was killed in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash. Under an agreement reached between the parties, the family will receive a total of $35.85 million, which includes the full verdict amount plus 26% interest.
The verdict was the first jury award among dozens of lawsuits stemming from the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, which together killed 346 people. Garg was 32 when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, operating from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, crashed shortly after takeoff. Her family’s lawsuit alleged that the 737 MAX was defectively designed and that Boeing failed to adequately warn passengers and the public about the aircraft’s dangers.
However, sources such as Seattle Pi have also reported that Boeing will “pay an additional $3.45 million to Garg’s husband, Soumya Bhattacharya, as part of a deal between him and the company reached outside of court“.
Boeing had already accepted responsibility for the crash and settled the vast majority of related civil suits. The compensation factors included in this first case to reach a full trial in U.S. federal court included factors such as emotional distress, loss of income and the pain and suffering endured by Ms Garg before the fatal crash. AP quoted the family lawyers of Ms Garg and said that $10 million was warded for “pain and suffering and emotional distress” Garg had experienced before the crash
Background of Shikha Garg: The person whose family compensated $28 million
Flight 302, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, departed had Addis Ababa for Nairobi, Kenya, and crashed six minutes after take‑off. One of the 157 onboard was Shikha Garg, an consultant for the United Nations Development Programme. She was on her way to Nairobi, Kenya, to attend a U.N. environmental assembly.
The Associate Pres dubbed her to be “an accomplished PhD candidate“. She was an Indian citizen and had married (to Soumya Bhattacharya) just months before she boarded Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The source also revealed that Garg wore on the flight a sari and held flower garlands in line with Indian tradition.
Statements of Prosecutors involved in the verdict against Boeing’s first civil trail over the MAX8 crashes
Boeing had already taken the liability for the crash. After all, the entirety of its MAX 8 had been grounded following the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
The attorneys of Garg’s family had also revealed that Boeing will not be appealing against the $28 million compensation. A spokesperson from this aerospace manufacturer from the United States said that Boeing was deeply sorry to all whose loved ones perished in the crashes:
“While we have resolved the vast majority of these claims through settlements, families are also entitled to pursue their claims through damages trials in court and we respect their right to do so”
Garg’s family was represented by Shanin Specter and Elizabeth Crawford. After the verdict, the two had said that the compensation “provides public accountability for Boeing’s wrongful conduct“.
Dan Webb, a former U.S. attorney, and Boeing’s lawyer in this case had asked jurors to focus on “fair and reasonable” compensation for Garg’s family. After all, the representatives of Garg’s family had argued Boeing was needed to compensate between $80 million and $230 million.
Previously, Boeing had argued, as reported by the Associated Press, that the passengers likely did not experience prolonged terror or suffering before their deaths. The company’s position was based on the severity and speed of the impact, suggesting that many passengers probably died almost immediately when the aircraft struck the ground.
Attorneys representing the victims’ families disputed that argument, saying the passengers endured significant fear as the aircraft repeatedly descended and climbed before entering its final nosedive at nearly 700 mph. They sought to present expert testimony arguing that passengers could have suffered both physical injuries and emotional trauma before the impact.
During the trial, Boeing attorney Webb also urged jurors not to allow sympathy to influence their decision. As reported by News24, he argued that the case was focused solely on determining reasonable compensation for the victims’ families rather than imposing additional punishment on Boeing, and maintained that the much larger damages sought by the plaintiffs would effectively amount to punitive damages.
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