Boeing settles 2 lawsuits over 2019 crash that killed 157 people, including suburban man

CHICAGO (WGN) — Boeing has settled two lawsuits concerning the deadly 2019 crash that claimed the lives of 157 people, including a military service member from Chicago’s suburbs.

Attorneys with Clifford Law Offices, Mark Lindquist Law, and Romanucci & Blandin announced on Monday that a resolution had been reached in the cases of Lewis v. Boeing and Belanger v. Boeing, one day before jury selection commenced.

Antoine Lewis, a decorated Army captain from Matteson, and Darcy Belanger, a director of professional development from Denver, Colorado, were among those killed in March of 2019 when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after takeoff.

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Lewis left behind a wife and two kids. He was nearing 20 years of military service.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him, that I don’t talk to a picture of him on the wall,” Lewis’ mother, Antoinette, told WGN News in May of 2021.

Lawyers representing the victims did not disclose the terms of the settlement.

“This settlement will bring a measure of closure to Lewis’ widow, Yalena Loepez Lewis, but can never make up for this heartbreaking and life-altering loss for his family,” lead counsel Antonio Romanucci said.

In July 2019, Lewis’ loved ones joined a lawsuit suing the Chicago-based Boeing, claiming the Boeing 737 Max jet was rushed and faulty. For months, potentially years, before the crash, the suit says Boeing knew about the risks but subverted them, misled the public, its investors, and its customers, failed to take adequate precautions, and failed to inform pilots of the new systems it had implemented.

The crash that claimed the lives of Lewis and others was the second deadly aircraft wreck over a five-month span involving a Boeing 737 Max jet.

Attorneys say 18 cases remain for decedents of crash victims. Boeing still faces a criminal trial on charges brought forth by the Department of Justice in July.