About two weeks ago, Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that families whose relatives were killed in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes could not enforce their rights under the Crime Victims' Rights Act (CVRA). This is an unfortunate ruling that, in my view, interprets the CVRA much too narrowly. On behalf of the families, I will seek review of the ruling in the Fifth Circuit tomorrow.
I have previously blogged about this case, including a post about the initial CVRA challenge and Judge O'Connor's ruling regarding "victim" status. The case arises from the Justice Department secretly negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with Boeing concerning its crimes connected to the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes. Both crashes were caused by a new part Boeing built into the 737 MAX–a software system called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Tragically, in the two crashes, MCAS improperly activated and drove the planes down. 346 people died in the crashes.
After the two crashes, the Justice Department began investigating whether Boeing had lied to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the new MCAS system. Ultimately, the Justice Department learned that Boeing had concealed from the FAA how MCAS operated. The reason for the deception was to secure less onerous training requirements for pilots transitioning to fly the MAX from other older 737 models. These less-rigorous training requirements enabled Boeing to earn millions of dollars when selling the plane; as a selling point, Boeing had promised its airline customers that additional flight simulator training would not be required for pilots already qualified to fly the 737 MAX's predecessors.
