NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — Keith Williams, Founder, Keith Williams Law Group is available to comment on the recent settlement between Boeing Co. and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the plane maker’s false claims regarding its 737 Max.

On September 22, 2022, Boeing announced it reached a $200 million settlement with the SEC over allegations that the company and its then-Chief Executive Officer, Dennis Muilenburg, misled investors about the plane’s safety and performance of its automated flight control system, which may have contributed to the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in Ethiopia on March 10, 2019. Both crashes resulted in the deaths of 346 people.

Boeing and Mr. Muilenburg also falsely claimed that there were no gaps in the plane’s certification process, according to the SEC. Although both the defendant company and its former CEO denied any wrongdoing, they offered to settle out of court and pay any penalties. Mr. Muilenburg, who was ousted from the company nine months after the Ethiopian Airlines crash, agreed to pay a $1 million penalty.

“The settlement, while it is a sizable amount, allowed both Boeing and Mr. Muilenburg to deny taking any responsibility for what happened,” Mr. Williams said. “Their unethical actions also led to the deaths of innocent people. Had they made the proper inspections of the planes and their flight control systems, rather than concern themselves with losing money on this aircraft, these two tragedies would not have happened.”

Mr. Williams has represented clients who have been injured and the families of victims who were killed in airplane crashes and disasters. He is currently representing several victims of Southwest Flight 345. In addition, he has represented passengers against Comair, Southwest Airlines, American, Iranian, Robson Helicopters, Honeywell, Garmin, general aviation and fixed-base operations.

He is the past Chair of the Aviation Section of the American Association for Justice and a Member of the Aviation and Space Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section.