• Boeing reached a last-minute settlement with Paul Njoroge, averting a trial related to the Ethiopian crash.
• Njoroge lost his wife and three children in the 2019 tragedy aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
• The crash led to the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets due to safety concerns.

Boeing has settled with Paul Njoroge, a Canadian man whose entire family was killed in the tragic 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia in March 2019. This settlement comes just before a jury trial was set to begin in Chicago to determine damages owed to Njoroge, whose family was traveling to Kenya when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 malfunctioned and crashed, killing all 157 people on board. Njoroge has described the painful memories that prevent him from returning home to Toronto, as well as the emotionally taxing aftermath, including joblessness and familial criticism for not being with his wife and children at the time of the disaster, according to SCMP, Channel News Asia, and India Times.

The exact terms of the settlement remain undisclosed, but Njoroge's lawyer, Robert Clifford, confirmed they had been aiming for "millions" in damages to compensate for the severe emotional distress experienced by Njoroge. Clifford stated, “He’s got complicated grief and sorrow,” emphasizing the psychological trauma that Njoroge faces after losing his family. This settlement allows Njoroge to avoid further legal proceedings that could have reopened painful memories of the crash, as also highlighted by SCMP and Africanews.

The Ethiopian Airlines crash was linked to malfunctioning technology related to the Boeing 737 MAX's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which has been implicated in leading to the fatalities of 346 individuals in two separate crashes—one in Ethiopia and another in Indonesia. This incident prompted a worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX fleet. Njoroge had previously testified before Congress regarding the harrowing details of his family’s final moments, emphasizing the six minutes of chaos leading up to the crash, which he considers “embedded” in his memory, according to Channel News Asia, India Times, and Africanews.