Boeing class action over MAX 9 blowout decertified by US appeals court
BA•Appeals court decertifies shareholder class action
A federal appeals court on Monday decertified a shareholder class action accusing Boeing of prioritizing profit over safety and overstating its commitment to safe aircraft, prior to the January 2024 mid-air cabin panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said shareholders led by Rhode Island's state treasurer did not show how damages could be calculated on a classwide basis, or how much Boeing's 40 alleged misrepresentations artificially inflated its stock price at any particular time.
Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. said a damages expert for Boeing shareholders offered "a series of 'maybes,' 'perhapses' and 'what ifs.'"
He also said the trial judge did not properly apply a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision to decertify an antitrust class action by Comcast cable TV subscribers.
The Rhode Island treasurer and lawyers for the shareholders did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Boeing and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
