Boeing 737 MAX Verdict: $49.5 Million for Samya Stumo — and Punitive Damages Still Coming

# Boeing 737 MAX Verdict: $49.5 Million for Samya Stumo — and Punitive Damages Still Coming

> **Quick answer:** A Chicago jury on May 14, 2026, ordered Boeing to pay $49.5 million to the family of Samya Rose Stumo, a 24-year-old American killed in Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019. Boeing had already admitted liability; the trial was about how much. Punitive damages claims against executives and suppliers were dismissed before trial, but the Stumo family is pursuing reinstatement on appeal — meaning Boeing's legal exposure in this case is not finished.

*This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified attorney for legal matters.*

The Boeing 737 MAX verdict handed down in a federal courtroom this week is, on one level, a number: $49.5 million. On another level, it is a statement about what a jury in America's third-largest city believed a 24-year-old's life — and the terror of her final minutes — was worth. It is one of the last major civil trials from the two 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people across Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019, and the legal fight is still not over.

## The Verdict: $49.5 Million, Broken Down

The Illinois jury split its award into three distinct categories, each designed to capture a different dimension of what Samya Rose Stumo's family lost — and what she experienced.