Families suing Boeing for the 737 Max crashes have been delayed a year after the pandemic closed courts

• The coronavirus slowed cases against Boeing from 737 Max crash victims’ families, their lawyer said.
• The pandemic meant new restrictions on courts, which Bob Clifford said meant limited court access.
• He said: “Pre-pandemic, the case might be over by now. So we’re at least a year behind.”
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Legal cases brought against Boeing by the families of those killed in the two fatal 737 Max crashes have been delayed by at least a year by the coronavirus pandemic, one of the lawyers representing those families said.

Boeing’s 737 Max plane crashed twice: A Lion Air plane crashed and killed all 189 people on board in October 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in March 2019, killing 157.

Bob Clifford, who represents more than 70 families affected by the Lion Air crash, told Insider that the families’ cases against Boeing are running “at least a year behind.”

That means some of the families expect to still be pursuing the court case three years after their loved ones died.

This is because many federal courts suspended jury trials and in-person hearings over COVID-19.

The US District Court in Chicago, where many of the cases against Boeing are being heard, suspended civil and criminal jury trials. The number of in-person hearings were also greatly reduced.

Clifford said lawyers who represent the families had “very limited access to our courts.”

“Here we are, some two-and-a-half years, post-crash … and we’re at least a year away from any jury trial. Whereas, in the past, pre-pandemic, the case might be over by now. So we’re at least a year behind.”

He added: “I really don’t predict any meaningful, significant jury trials, certainly here in Chicago, but most likely anywhere in the US, in all of 2021. And then, we’ll see what happens in 2022.”

Some families have chosen to settle their cases against Boeing, avoiding the lengthy trial process.

Boeing declined to comment when contacted by Insider.