A federal jury in Chicago has ordered Boeing to pay over $28 million to the family of Shikha Garg, a United Nations environmental worker who died in the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash in 2019, CBS reported. The order came on Wednesday, November 12, 2025. Boeing also agreed to pay an additional $3.45 million to Garg’s husband, Soumya Bhattacharya, in a separate deal.
Boeing has settled most of the dozens of Death cases in this crash and another Max crash in Indonesia five months earlier.
Who was Shikha Garg?
Shikha Garg, a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme, was travelling to Nairobi to attend a UN environmental assembly. The Indian citizen was a young, PhD candidate who had only recently gotten married. She was wearing a sari and carrying flower garlands, a nod to Indian tradition, when she boarded the flight.
Her family filed a lawsuit that argued that the 737 MAX was “defectively designed,” and that Boeing failed to warn people about the dangers, The crash happened only five months after another 737 MAX, Lion Air Flight 610, went down in the Java Sea in Indonesia. Shanin Spectre and Elizabeth Crawford, who represented the Garg family, said the verdict brings public accountability for Boeing’s actions.
“The US planemaker has settled more than 90% of the dozens of civil lawsuits related to the two accidents, paying out billions of dollars in compensation through lawsuits, a deferred prosecution agreement and other payments,” the company told Reuters earlier.
Boeing to pay $28 M to family of UN worker killed in 2019 crash
Wednesday’s ruling was the first verdict among the many lawsuits filed after the two 737 MAX crashes years ago. One in Ethiopia in 2019 and the other in Indonesia in 2018, together the tragedy claimed 346 lives.
On Wednesday morning, both sides reached a deal. Under this agreement, Garg’s family will receive $35.85 million. This amount covers the full verdict plus 26% interest, and in return, Boeing agreed not to appeal, according to the family’s lawyers.
A Boeing spokesperson said the company is “deeply sorry” to everyone who lost loved ones in the two crashes. She added that while Boeing has already settled most of the claims, families have the right to take their cases to trial, and the company respects that decision. “While we have resolved the vast majority of these claims through settlements, families are also entitled to pursue their claims through damages trials in court, and we respect their right to do so,” the spokesperson said in a press statement.
Just last week, on November 5, Boeing also settled three more lawsuits filed by families of other victims from the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Their lawyer confirmed the settlements, but the terms were not made public.
Days after the crash, aviation authorities around the world grounded all Boeing 737 Max jets. Flights resumed in December 2020, but Indonesia waited another year, and Ethiopian Airlines didn’t bring the Max back until February 2022.
