Attorneys for Minnesota family: Boeing $100M fund doesn't make up for loss
(FOX 9) - The family of the Minnesota man who died when an Ethiopian Airlines flight went down in March, killing everyone on board, says a fund being created by Boeing doesn't come close to making up for the loss.
Wednesday, Boeing said it would provide $100 million to help families affected by two 737 Max plane crashes that resulted in the deaths of 346 people.
In a statement on the new fund, Boeing chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg wrote, “We at Boeing are sorry for the tragic loss of lives in both of these accidents ... and we hope this initial outreach can help bring them comfort."
However, the effort didn't impress lawyers for the family of Mucaad Hussein Abdalla, the St. Cloud man who was on the Ethiopian Airlines flight, The attorneys say Boeing put greed first.
"This payment doesn’t come anywhere close to compensating the families for what has been taken from them," the attorneys write. "Boeing put profit over safety to get their number-one selling plane to market."
While the exact causes of the 737 Max crashes remain under investigation, preliminary investigations point to a software flaw that pushed the planes' noses down.
Boeing has since worked to update the software, however, 737 Max planes remain grounded in the U.S. under federal orders.
This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.