passengers in fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes ‘crime victims’ By Reuters

(Reuters) – A U.S. judge in Texas ruled on Friday that people killed in two Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX crashes are legally considered “crime victims” and will determine what remedies should be imposed.

In December, some crash victims’ relatives said the U.S. Justice Department violated their rights when it struck the January 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. planemaker over two crashes that killed 346 people.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled “the tragic loss of life that resulted from the two airplane crashes was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of Boeing’s conspiracy to defraud the United States.”