Boeing Face USD 1 Million Lawsuit from Families of Lion Air Crash

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Around 21 family members of the Lion Air flight JT 610 crash officially filed a USD 1 million lawsuit against Boeing Co. at the Seattle Municipal Court in Washington State. They are represented by a team of lawyers from Hermann Law Group.

According to Hermann Law Group representative in Indonesia, Columbanus Priandanto, families saw that the airplane manufacturer had largely contributed to the tragic day for Indonesia’s aviation that saw over 180 people perish.

“We are focusing on demanding for compensation from the company because we view that Boeing had largely contributed to the accident,” said Columbanus at Hotel Fairmont, Jakarta, on Sunday, March 17.

Read also: Garuda Indonesia Awaits Boeing Response on Aircraft Order

Furthermore, he said that the compensation his clients demand is different from the Rp1.3 billion compensation provided by Lion Air that acts as one of many air carriers operating the Boeing 737 MAX 8.

He explained that the lawsuit was mainly driven by information of Boeing’s alleged negligence and design flaw of the MAX 8.

Just months after the tragic Lion Air JT 610 crash, another Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed at Addis Ababa. Columbanus Priandanto claims that the Ethiopian plane’s pilots were faced with technical difficulties that are similar to the Lion Air crash and suspects a major design flaw in one of the plane’s software.

Despite already filing the lawsuit, the team of attorneys continue to gather pieces of evidence and data that will further prove their lawsuit against Boeing Co. “We commenced an investigation to convince that Boeing is wrong,” he said.

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA