US Trial Opens for Family of UN Worker Killed in Boeing 737 MAX Crash
A US court has begun hearing a civil trial brought by the family of an Irish-born United Nations worker who died in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX crash. Michael Ryan, an engineer with the UN World Food Programme, was among 157 people killed when the aircraft went down shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa.
The trial, which opened Monday in Chicago, seeks to determine damages from Boeing. Ryan's widow, Naoise Ryan, and their two young children are pursuing the case as one of the last remaining civil claims arising from two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, which together claimed 346 lives.
Ryan, 39 at the time of his death, had a distinguished humanitarian career. He served in Liberia during the Ebola crisis, worked with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and provided support in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia. The UN memorial page credits him with overseeing shelter construction and evacuations that saved tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from landslides and floods.
His widow, Naoise Ryan, described him as "a humanitarian in every sense of the word" while accepting an award from the Irish Red Cross in 2020. She is represented by attorney Steven Marks, who said the family is not seeking a settlement from Boeing. Instead, they are committed to "seeking accountability and justice from a jury." Naoise Ryan previously declined Boeing's voluntary compensation, calling it "blood money," and redirected her allotment of $1.65 million to an aviation safety foundation.
The trial, expected to last about 12 days, will hear testimony from Ryan's family and colleagues. The plaintiffs include Ryan's wife, daughter Saorlaith, and son MacDara, who were three years and six months old at the time of the accident.
Boeing has issued apologies for the crashes and acknowledged that anti-stall software was implicated in both accidents. The company has settled the vast majority of related claims, though the terms of those agreements have not been made public.
This case follows a separate jury verdict in May, when the family of Samya Stumo, a 24-year-old American killed on the same Ethiopian Airlines flight, was awarded $49.5 million in damages. In that trial, attorneys criticised Boeing's negligence, and relatives described their loss as devastating.
The outcome of Ryan's case could carry implications for how manufacturers are held accountable for aviation safety failures. The 2018 Lion Air and 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crashes prompted global grounding of the 737 MAX fleet and led to significant changes in certification and training procedures.
