Kenyan sues Boeing over Ethiopian Airlines crash

What you need to know:

  • Fredrick Karanja Mungai accuses the US aviation giant of negligence.
  • The case was filed last Wednesday in the Illinois Northern District Court before Judge Rebecca R Pallmeyer.
  • Mr Mungai is the second Kenyan to sue Boeing in the US.

A Kenyan has filed a lawsuit in Chicago against the US aviation giant Boeing over the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash that killed 157 people.

Nairobi-based lawyer Mr Irungu Kang’ata said that the case was filed last Wednesday in the Illinois Northern District Court before Judge Rebecca R Pallmeyer.

The plaintiff in the case, number 1:19-CV-02770, is Mr Fredrick Karanja Mungai, while the defendants are Boeing Corporation and Rosemount Aerospace Inc, which manufactured the allegedly defective part of the plane.

Mr Mungai is represented by Mr Lawrence T. Ruder of Ruder Law, LLC, a personal injury lawyer based in the US who filed the suit.

Law firms involved in the suit pro hac vice are Irungu Kang’ata and Co Advocates based in Nairobi, Carlos Velasquez of VDA Trial Lawyers (Florida), a US-based attorney specialising in aviation litigation, and Laban Opande Attorneys and Counsellors at Law (Texas). Pro hac vice refers to a temporary admission of a lawyer to a case in  a jurisdiction in which he or she is not licensed to practice in.

NEGLIGENCE

According to court documents, Mr Mungai, was appointed the special administrator of estate of Helen Waithira Karanja, who died in the crash.

The lawsuit accuses Boeing of negligence and that the company failed to warn the public, airlines and pilots of the airplane’s allegedly erroneous sensors.

In the court papers, Mr Mungai said that Boeing’s subject aircraft was defective in design and had inadequate warnings.

“At all times material, Defendant Boeing failed to warn the public, the airlines, pilots, users, and intended third-party beneficiaries of the 737 MAX 8’s unreasonably dangerous and defective design, that caused it to enter into an uncontrollable nosedive,” he said.

A preliminary report released earlier this month showed that the Ethiopian Airlines pilots wrestled with a computer system that repeatedly ordered the nose down due to a faulty sensor data.

SEEKING DAMAGES

The Boeing aircraft, B-737-800MAX, registration ET-AVJ, had just departed from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa when it crashed in Bishoftu. The crash claimed the lives of all 157 people on board, among them 32 Kenyans, with the country suffering the largest number of casualties.

“We have laid several complaints. The damages sought are based on the nature of injuries the family of the plaintiff got and the loss of support to heirs and beneficiaries. Other damages are based on the sorrow, pain and emotional loss, loss of companionship and guidance, economic losses and damages associated with grief,” Mr Kang’ata told the Nation.

“The estate has suffered substantial loss and thus makes claim for all damages available to it under applicable law, including economic losses, loss of support to heirs, pecuniary losses, loss of companionship and loss of guidance, loss of consortium, loss of advice, and loss of society. There is also compensation for grief, sorrow, mental suffering and anguish, as well as pain and suffering and emotional distress,” Mr Kang’ata said.

“As of now, it’s only one client that has agreed to have details and identities disclosed for the case. The main fight in this case is with Boeing because all reports made so far from the Ethiopian crash point to their negligence,” he added.

REPRESENTATION

Mr Mungai is the second Kenyan to sue Boeing in the US after the family of the late George Kabau, who died in the crash, filed a lawsuit on April 15.

The family is represented by lawyer Nomi Husain, who is also representing one of the American families who lost their kin in the crash.

Mr Kang'ata has urged other affected families in Kenya to join Mr Mungai's suit and get the compensation that they deserve following the loss of their loved ones.

The Foreign Affairs ministry had asked families of victims of the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash to secure a Grant of Representation from court in order to get compensation.

A Grant of Representation is a document that confirms the legal status and ability to deal with the estate of someone who has died. It grants the bearer the powers to administer the estate of the deceased.

CANADIANS SUE

Ten Canadian families will also on Monday file lawsuits against Boeing.

The families will be represented by Clifford Law Offices of Chicago and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy of San Francisco.

In a statement, the law firms said the victims include three generations of one family, and the wife and three children, including a nine-month-old of another family, all from the Toronto area.

The complaint will be filed in federal district court in Chicago against Boeing, manufacturer of the plane, based in Chicago, and Rosemount Aerospace, Inc. of Minnesota.

Separate claims also will be filed Monday against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of the families.

TRAGIC
A complaint and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claim also will be filed on behalf of a Mr Paul Njoroge who lost his entire immediate family.

“This crash is tragic for every family who lost loved ones, but these families from Canada are particularly impacted because the Vaidyas lost three generations – grandparents, parents and children,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices in Chicago.

“Paul Njoroge lost his wife and three young children, including little nine-month-old Rubi. These lawsuits will demonstrate the shortcuts and greed of Boeing and others as well as the utter disregard of the passengers they were to protect that could have avoided this tragic crash.”

Frank Pitre, from Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, said, “Boeing and the FAA abdicated their safety responsibilities, and as a result, pilots and passengers became guinea pigs for real world testing of aircraft with known hazardous design characteristics and defective software systems. These families were destroyed by a profound breach of trust.”

The complaint alleges negligence as well as breach of warranty, strict liability, failure to warn and civil conspiracy.

The complaint states that “Blinded by its greed, Boeing haphazardly rushed the 737 MAX8 to market, with the knowledge and tacit approval of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).”

It goes on to state of “Boeing’s decision to put profits over safety” … “and the regulators that enabled it, must be held accountable for their reckless actions.”