Is 737 MAX Immunity Over? SCOTUS Forces Boeing Into The Hot Seat - Simple Flying

This Monday, the Supreme Court Of The United States (SCOTUS) decided to turn away from Boeing's attempt to ward off a lawsuit brought by the Southwest Airlines pilot union over the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The order, noted the justices left in place in

Texas, allowed the case to move forward to trial. However, the American plane maker has argued that the lawsuit is already preempted by federal law.

As analysed by The Hill, it is claimed by the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association that Boeing made misrepresentations and fraudulently induced Southwest Airlines pilots to fly the 737 MAX without sufficient training. This suit, respecitvely looks for damages for lost compensation.

Misrepresentation & Fraud

This lawsuit focuses on the fact that Boeing could face a full criminal trial in relation to the original 737 MAX certification, and now it appears that the immunity Boeing thought it once had could now be completely dissolved. For Boeing, the plane maker faced intense scrutiny following two MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, which killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. These tragedies were found to be based on software issues, and saw the aircraft grounded for months.

Boeing has appealed the case, pointing to the Railway Labor Act, which governs labor relations for the airline (and rail) industries. The 1926 federal law, as suggested by Boeing, preempts the pilots union case, as it believes it requires interpreting the pilots collective bargaining agreement with Southwest Airlines.

This has been rejected by Texas's top court, which concluded that the RLA would only involve the airlines and their employees. As Boeing is not an airline, the lower court permitted the suit to proceed.

Blinkered Approach

Boeing wrote in its Supreme Court petition that the current suit is a blinkered approach that would split the authority that undermines a significant statute in labour law, and encourage forum shoppers. However, SWAPA has encouraged the Supreme Court to continue with its turn away of the appeal, noting that the lower ruling is correct, and that it is factually atypical, and should not have warranted the justices' attention.

As summarised by Justia, the Supreme Court of Texas has concluded that the Railway Labor Act would not preempt the pilots' association's claim, as it did not require the interpretation of the bargaining agreement. The court also suggested that the assignments from claims to the pilots of SWAPA were not void against public policy, which would allow SWAPA to continue with these claims as an assignee.

In 2011, Boeing introduced the MAX as a new and improved, more fuel-efficient aircraft, and required no additional pilot training. However, following the two crashes in 2018 and 2019, Southwest Pilots agreed to fly the MAX but later suggested Boeing interfered with the business relationship and fraudulently induced pilots to fly the MAX without sufficient proper training.

Lion Air And Ethiopian Airlines Incidents

The first major MAX accident was Lion Air flight 610, a domestic service between Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International and Pangkai Pinang, Indonesia. The flight on October 29, 2018, operated by the MAX 8 crashed just 13 minutes after takeoff into the Java Sea, killing all 189 occupants onboard. It was the deadliest accident ever involving the Boeing 737 family of airplanes.

Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 was the second fatal crash, and occurred on an international flight from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya. The flight departed on March 10, 2019, on a MAX 8 and crashed into the ground six minutes after takeoff. This saw all 157 occupants onboard killed.

Both these incidents occurred within five months of each other, which led to the worldwide grounding of the plane, and led to an investigation as to how the aircraft was approved for passenger service. Following a thorough investigation into both incidents, it was discovered that the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, a new automatic flight control feature, was flawed.