Boeing is being targeted by an extensive lawsuit filed on behalf of 44 of the 239 passengers who died on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the flight that was lost over the South Indian Ocean in 2014. The lawsuit, filed by the victims’ family members, seeks actual and punitive or exemplary damages. It also demands a jury trial.
The complaint, filed March 4, 2017, claims that Boeing made several mistakes, many of them regarding the manufacture of the plane, which resulted in the death of all souls aboard when the plane went down. The complaint also alleges that Boeing did not make enough effort or any effort at all to locate the wreckage and provide closure to the families of the victims.
The plaintiffs allege that the plane had serious and unreasonable defects due to the way in which it was built. The lawsuit states that the electrical wiring on the plane was defective and subject to come into contact with combustible sources, such as the flight crews’ emergency oxygen supply. It also states that the oxygen supply was not fully protected with conductive oxygen supply hoses. Several components were also defective, including the transponder, pressurization system and suppression systems.
All of these defects conspired to create an electrical fire and extensive systems failure, which ultimately resulted in the loss of the aircraft and the persons aboard.
The suit also alleges that the plane would have been located if it weren’t for Boeing’s decision to equip the plane with outdated Emergency Locator Transmitters. The ones attached to the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder were ineffective, argues the complaint, especially in crashes involving water. Better technology was available at the time of the plane’s construction.
The lack of action taken my the manufacture has also caused the victims’ families grief and has not allowed them to find closure. “Boeing has taken no action to find the missing aircraft,” states the complaint. All search efforts have been led by the Australia Air Safety Investigative Board, but those efforts have been called off.
The attorneys representing the plaintiffs include Mary F. Schiavo and James R. Brauchle of Motley Rice LLC as well as Keke Feng. Gregory D. Keith is the special administrator on the case.
