Realizing that too much commentary on legal developments in any of the various lawsuits (or legislative initiatives) which are ongoing in the wake of the 737 MAX debacle can rapidly become unwelcome here, this post reports some relevant (and, to this SLF/attorney very interesting) changes in status of some pending lawsuits. Realizing too that even any legal commentary can be rapidly criticized, this post might be questionable. But on the other hand, there have been several exhortations to impose harsher punishments on the corporation, its officials and leaders as well as for stricter scrutiny of the regulatory authorities, and surely no responsible aviator would condone so-called rough barnyard justice, replacing rule of law.
One change in legal status is that the U.S. District Court in Chicago has dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit that was filed on behalf of a (proposed) class of Southwest flight attendants. I'm not attaching the court ruling here (but it's easy to find on Pacer). It's the
Christensen case.
The gist of the dismissal by the District Court is there were
insufficient allegations that the problems with the aircraft (as already admitted by Boeing as well as still in controversy), even if all true and valid, add up to legal claims that these
specific litigants can make in court against Boeing. (known as "failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted", technically).
But the case has relevance beyond its short life on the court docket. In the proposed class action against Boeing by a large group of pilots from a good number of different countries and airlines, Boeing filed a motion seeking to consolidate the SW flight attendants' proposed class action along with the lawsuit by the pilots. That has become a moot issue now, since the flight attendants' action has been dismissed. Here's a link to a reliable legal news outlet article on this case:
Southwest flight attendants' lawsuit over Boeing 737 MAX grounding tossed | Business Information & News | FE | Westlaw Today
There was another lawsuit centered on Southwest but it too has been dismissed. It was filed by the SWAPA, the labor organization of Southwest pilots, and ended up with a dismissal in Texas state court in early November. From a lawyer's viewpoint there is a lot more to discuss about the legal claims, and factual allegations and context, of the pilots' suit. Anyway, here it'll just be noted as having been dismissed.
(No comments in this post or otherwise should be taken as any opinion or legal advice about the appellate prospects in either case.)