Boeing has reached settlements with 11 families of victims from October's Lion Air crash, the first agreements following two deadly crashes that killed 346 people, a plaintiffs attorney said Wednesday. The Wisner Law Firm, which specializes in aviation cases, is also "optimistic" about reaching settlements on its remaining six cases for families affected by the crash in Indonesia, said attorney Alexandra Wisner.
The settlements pay out at least $1.2 million per victim, a person familiar with the matter said. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The aviation giant still faces more than 100 lawsuits in federal court in Chicago following the Lion Air Crash and a second crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane in March that led to the global grounding of the top-selling 737 MAX.
Boeing in July announced that it would spend $100 million on communities and families affected by the 737 MAX disasters. On Monday, the Boeing Financial Assistance Fund said it was open to accepting claims and would spend $50 million on immediate financial assistance to families. The families of the 346 passengers will each receive about $144,500 and will not be required to waive the right to sue the company, said Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of the fund.