A federal jury in Chicago returned a $49.5 million verdict on May 14, 2026, against Boeing Co. in favor of the family of Samya Rose Stumo, 24, who died in the March 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 [1][2]. The case proceeded to trial in the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Jorge Alonso, making it the second civil jury trial to reach a verdict arising from the 737 MAX disaster that killed 157 people [1][3]. The plaintiffs, including Stumo's parents Michael Stumo and Nadia Milleron, brought claims for wrongful death and products liability tied to the defective MCAS flight-control software implicated in the crash [2][3].
The jury allocated the $49.5 million award across three categories: $21 million for Stumo's pain and suffering during the fatal flight, $16.5 million for the family's loss of companionship, and $12 million for grief [1][2]. Kline & Specter attorneys Shanin Specter and Elizabeth Crawford represented the plaintiffs at trial [3]. Boeing presented no defense counsel of record in the discovery materials, and the company did not secure a favorable finding on any damages component.
The verdict carries no punitive component, but plaintiffs had pursued punitive damages as part of their case [3]. Whether punitive damages were submitted to the jury and rejected, or withheld for a subsequent phase, is not fully resolved in the available source material. The compensatory total of $49.5 million stands as the operative award at this stage [1][2].
With the second civil jury verdict now on record, Boeing faces additional unresolved civil claims from other victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash and the October 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 disaster, which also involved the 737 MAX [2]. The $49.5 million figure establishes a reference point for settlement negotiations and future trials involving similarly situated families. No post-trial motions or notice of appeal had been publicly filed as of the reporting date [1][2].