A federal jury in Chicago awarded $49.5 million in compensatory damages on May 13, 2026, to the family of Samya Stumo, a 24-year-old American who died aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019 [1][2]. That crash, along with the Lion Air Flight 610 disaster in October 2018, killed 346 people and was linked to Boeing's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, the automated flight-control feature at the center of the 737 MAX crisis [1][3]. Boeing had admitted liability before trial, narrowing the proceedings before Judge N.D. Ill. to a single question: the quantum of damages owed to Stumo's parents, Michael Stumo and Nadia Milleron, and to her estate [2][3].
The jury allocated the $49.5 million award across three categories. It assigned $21 million to Samya Stumo's conscious pain and suffering during the flight, $16.5 million to loss of companionship, and $12 million to the family's grief [1][2][3]. No punitive damages were sought or awarded. The liability admission meant the four-day trial centered on witness testimony from family members and experts quantifying Stumo's lost relationships and future contributions, rather than on MCAS design fault or Boeing's corporate conduct [2][3].
The verdict is the second civil jury award arising from Flight 302 and stands among the last wrongful-death trials still proceeding to jury resolution from the 737 MAX litigation docket [1][3]. The majority of the approximately 346 wrongful-death claims generated by both crashes were resolved through a court-supervised settlement fund Boeing established in 2021, before any liability trial [3]. The Stumo family elected to litigate rather than accept a settlement, preserving their right to a public jury determination [1][2].
Boeing faces continued civil exposure from any remaining opted-out plaintiffs, and the company's litigation posture in this consolidated docket will be shaped in part by this verdict's damages framework [3]. Post-trial motions have not been reported as of publication. The parallel criminal proceeding against Boeing, which had proceeded on a deferred prosecution agreement tied to the MAX certification failures, collapsed separately and does not directly affect the civil docket [1].