On May 13, 2026, a federal jury in Chicago awarded $49.5 million to the family of Samya Stumo, a 24-year-old American who died aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019. The decision closes out one of the last remaining civil trials tied to the two fatal 737 Max crashes that killed a total of 346 people.
According to The Seattle Times, the jury’s award includes roughly $21 million for Stumo’s pain and suffering, with the balance covering economic and related losses. The trial, covered by Law360, began in the first week of May in a federal courtroom in Chicago.
Verdict details
In a statement to The Seattle Times, a Boeing spokesperson said, “We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.”
During the trial, jurors heard emotional testimony from Stumo’s parents, as well as expert witnesses who walked them through her life, her projected future earnings, and what likely happened in the final moments before the aircraft hit the ground.
Legal backdrop
Boeing had already agreed in a 2021 stipulation to accept responsibility for compensatory damages tied to the Ethiopian Airlines crash, a key concession reported by The Guardian. That meant the Chicago jury’s job was not to decide whether Boeing was liable, but how much the company should pay Stumo’s family.
On a separate track, the U.S. Department of Justice brought fraud allegations connected to how the 737 Max was developed and certified, then struck a nonprosecution agreement with Boeing. Families of crash victims have fiercely opposed that deal, but an appeals court recently rejected efforts to reopen the criminal case, according to reporting by AP and court records.
Legal implications
The criminal and civil cases now sit on very different tracks. DOJ documents and court filings lay out the agency’s 2021 fraud investigation and a 2025 nonprosecution framework that imposed conditions on Boeing while sharply narrowing the chances of any criminal conviction.
Court dockets and a recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit show that attorneys for victims’ families tried to use the Crime Victims’ Rights Act to challenge the agreement. The appellate panel, however, declined to revive the prosecution in a ruling issued on March 31, 2026. The Department of Justice has made information about the case available through its public case page.
What’s next
Stumo’s legal team has already signaled this is not the end of the road. They told reporters they plan to seek punitive damages and explore any appellate options following the verdict, according to trial coverage in Law360.
The outcome is being closely watched by other families of crash victims who are weighing whether to take their cases to a jury or accept confidential settlements, which have resolved most of the related claims behind closed doors.
Why this matters
Beyond the dollar figure, the verdict keeps a public accountability channel open at a time when the DOJ’s agreement with Boeing sharply limits the company’s criminal exposure. Civil juries, at least, are still very much in play.
Earlier civil trials have already produced sizable awards, including a multimillion dollar verdict returned by another Chicago jury in November 2025 for a different Ethiopian Airlines crash victim, according to contemporary reporting by AFP. Together, those results signal that U.S. juries are willing to hold Boeing financially answerable for the 737 Max disasters, even as the criminal case remains effectively shut down.
