A federal jury in Chicago has awarded $49.5 million to the family of Samya Stumo, a 24-year-old American who was killed in the March 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
Stumo died when the Boeing 737 MAX 8 bound for Nairobi, Kenya, crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 10, 2019. All 157 people on board were killed.
The verdict resolves one of the few remaining civil cases tied to the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. Boeing has settled most of the lawsuits brought by victims’ families, but Stumo’s family did not reach a settlement with the company before trial.
The jury awarded $21 million for Stumo’s death, $16.5 million for the family’s loss of companionship and $12 million for the family’s grief, according to attorneys for the family.
Boeing had already accepted responsibility for the crash, leaving the trial to focus on compensation rather than liability.
Stumo was traveling to Kenya for her first assignment with ThinkWell, a public health organization that works to expand access to healthcare in Africa and Asia.
The Ethiopian Airlines crash came less than five months after Lion Air Flight 610, another Boeing 737 MAX 8, crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia on October 29, 2018. A total of 189 people lost their lives in the accident. Together, the two crashes claimed 346 victims and led regulators around the world to ground the 737 MAX.
The 737 MAX returned to service after Boeing made required system changes. Flights resumed in December 2020, though some countries and operators waited longer before returning the aircraft to service.
The Stumo verdict is the second jury award tied to the Ethiopian Airlines crash. In November 2025, another Chicago jury awarded more than $28 million to the family of Shikha Garg, a United Nations consultant who was also killed on Flight 302. Boeing later agreed to pay additional amounts that brought the total payment to her family up to $35.8 million.
The legal fallout from the MAX crashes has continued for years. In March 2026, a federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a criminal conspiracy charge against Boeing tied to the two crashes, according to Clifford Law Offices, which represents some victims’ families. The families had argued that the Justice Department denied them a meaningful role in the process under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
Boeing stressed that it remained sorry for the losses suffered by families on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
The company said in a statement: “While we have resolved nearly all of these claims through settlements, families are entitled to pursue their claims through the court process, and we respect their right to do so.”
