Four victim families has reached a settlement with Boeing almost a year after the Lion Air plane crash that killed 189 people.
The victim families' attorney Mark Lindquist of Herrmann Law Group announced that they have reached a settlement agreement with Boeing on four of the 46 victim families they represent in the Lion Air plane crash.
Lindquist said: "We represent 46 victim families [in the Lion Air plane crash]. We reached an agreement on four of those cases. Negotiations are ongoing. Our goal are justice for the victims, accountability from Boeing and safer skies for everyone-- whether we get there by settlement or by trial."
According to Lindquist, they started the negotiations for victims who were single and childless and will do it next for victims who have spouses and children. He pointed out that when victims have a spouse and/or children, "full and fair compensation is going be a larger amount...We have to look out for those children who are going to grow up without with a parent."
He mentioned that there is no telling how long it would take to complete the negotiations for the other 42 families they represent. His firm, Herrmann Law Group also represents four families in the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 on board in March, which also involved a Boeing 737 Max.
Earlier, Indonesian investigators informed the victim families that the fatal crash can be attributed in part to poor regulatory oversight and the design of Boeing's 737 Max. A summary of the final report on the crash has been provided by the investigators to the victims' relatives.
Peter Pedraza, a spokesman for Boeing, said that the airline would not make a comment on the lawsuit directly but he expressed: "We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of all those onboard Lion Air Flight 610."
