Four flight attendants are suing Boeing over the mid-air panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight in January 2024.
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In separate lawsuits, the flight attendants are seeking compensation for physical and emotional injuries caused when a panel fell from one of its planes at 16,000 feet shortly after take-off.
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“Each of the four flight attendants acted courageously, following their training and putting their passengers’ safety first while fearing for their lives,” said Tracy Brammeier, the attorney for each of the plaintiffs, reported Reuters.
“They deserve to be wholly compensated for this life-altering traumatic experience,” she added.
The lawsuits were filed on Jul. 29 in Seattle’s King County Superior Court, accusing the plane maker of negligence and failing to exercise reasonable care in producing, repairing, and selling 737 MAX 9 jets.
“Boeing knew or should have known of the quality control issues present in its production of the 737 MAX line of aircraft,” the filings said, according to the reports.
The incident caused a fresh crisis for Boeing, which was forced to ground nearly 200 of the jets, causing thousands of flight cancellations.
Boeing was forced to pay $160 million to Alaska Airlines to make up for losses the airline suffered following the blowout.
It also prompted te U.S. Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into the company, declaring that Boeing did not comply with a deferred prosecution agreement from 2021.
Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also said Boeing did not give adequate training, guidance, and oversight to stop the incident from happening.
The NTSB said it found four bolts missing from the door plug which flew out, causing it to slowly slide out of place over more than 100 flights before the incident.
In July, three passengers who sued Alaska Airlines and Boeing for $1 billion over the incident settled out of court. The lawsuit was dismissed on Jul. 7 with prejudice, meaning they are unable to refile the same case later.
And in June, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said it wasn’t ready to lift the production cap it set on Boeing’s 737 MAX following the incident.
Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said “not at this time” when asked by a journalist about upping the cap.
The FAA limited Boeing’s ability to make more than 38 737 MAX planes a month following the 2024 emergency landing, which raised questions about the company’s production standards.
Alaska Airlines and Boeing didn’t immediately respond to Quartz’s request for comment.
—Ben Kesslen contributed to this article.