Boeing Compensates Kenyan Who Lost 5 Family Members In 2019 Plane Crash

A Kenyan national, Paul Njoroge — who tragically lost his wife, three children, and mother-in-law in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crash — has now received compensation from Boeing.

The agreement was finalised on Friday, allowing Boeing to sidestep a federal trial that was scheduled to begin on Monday, July 14.

While the exact terms of the deal remain undisclosed, Njoroge’s legal team confirmed to AFP that a confidential settlement had indeed been reached.

"The case has settled for a confidential amount," a spokesperson for Clifford Law told the publication, the firm representing Njoroge, whose mother-in-law also died in the crash.

Photo of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX in flight. /BOEING MEDIA ROOM

"The aviation team at Clifford Law Offices has been working around the clock in preparation for trial, but the mediator was able to help the parties come to an agreement on behalf of Paul Njoroge," added Robert Clifford, a senior partner at Clifford, in a statement.

Up to this point, Boeing has managed to avoid facing civil trials related to the 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 by securing multiple settlements, sometimes just hours before proceedings were due to start.

The Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 tragedy occurred on March 10, 2019, just six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi.

Among the 157 victims was Paul Njoroge’s entire family: his 33-year-old wife Carolyne, his mother-in-law Ann Karanja, and their three children — six-year-old Ryan, four-year-old Kelli, and nine-month-old Rubi.

Speaking to a U.S. congressional panel in July 2019, Njoroge shared how he remains haunted by thoughts of their final moments — imagining his children clinging to their mother in fear. “It is difficult for me to think of anything else but the horror they must have felt,” he said. “I cannot get it out of my mind.”

The trial that was scheduled to begin Monday was expected to last between five and seven days. Between April 2019 and March 2021, families of 155 crash victims filed lawsuits accusing Boeing of wrongful death and negligence.

The company has acknowledged fault for the crash, attributing it to flaws in the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a flight control system that failed during the flight.

The same system was blamed for the 2018 Lion Air disaster, when a Boeing 737 MAX 8 plunged into the sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. That crash triggered numerous lawsuits in the U.S., though by July 2025, only one case remained unresolved.

Boeing says it has reached out-of-court settlements with over 90 per cent of the plaintiffs involved in the MAX-related cases. Separately, the company is also facing a pending agreement to settle a lengthy Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal investigation tied to the MAX crashes.

However, some families of the victims are challenging the DOJ’s proposed deal, insisting that Boeing should be held criminally accountable. A final ruling on the matter is still pending from U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas.

Wreckage after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in 2019. /NEW YORK TIMES