REUTERS/Brendan McDermid ReutersBy Tracy RucinskiCHICAGO (Reuters) - Families of Boeing 737 MAX crash victims are urging U.S. lawmakers to ensure the planemaker is held accountable for accidents that together killed 346 people by blocking a key legal defense, according to a letter sent on Tuesday and seen by Reuters. Chicago-based Boeing Co is facing around 100 lawsuits by families of 157 victims of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash and has argued that because the aircraft was certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, it is immune from liability, court filings show. Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: "Boeing has offered to work with the victims’ families to schedule mediations to discuss settlement of claims on terms that fairly compensate them and are committed to this mediation process." The 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia occurred just five months after a similar disaster on a Lion Air flight in Indonesia. The letter comes ahead of a Senate Commerce Committee vote on Wednesday on sweeping reforms to how the FAA certifies new aircraft.

Source: Ethiopian News September 15, 2020 18:56 UTC