WASHINGTON, Nov 13 — A US jury in the first civil trial over a fatal Boeing 737 MAX crash determined yesterday that the aircraft manufacturing giant owes US$28.45 million to the family of a newly-wed Indian victim.

The case involves the survivors of Shikha Garg of New Delhi, who died in the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, one of two fatal MAX crashes that together claimed 346 lives.

After about two hours of deliberation, a jury in federal court in Chicago returned with an award that included US$10 million for grief, US$10 million for Garg’s pain and suffering, and other compensation.

“We happily accept the verdict. We came here for a jury trial and it’s absolutely acceptable,” Garg’s widower, Soumya Bhattacharya, told AFP.Boeing expressed regret about the deadly accidents.

“We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302,” a Boeing spokesperson said.

“While we have resolved the vast majority of these claims through settlements, families are also entitled to pursue their claims through damages trials in court, and we respect their right to do so.”

Attorneys representing Bhattacharya had argued the estate should receive between $80 and $230 million, while Boeing’s counsel had proposed US$11.95 million.

The lawsuits stem from the March 10, 2019 flight that crashed six minutes after departing Addis Ababa for Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.

Garg’s was the first case to go to trial after Boeing reached dozens of other civil settlements in cases brought by family members from the Ethiopian Airlines crash and from the Lion Air 737 MAX crash in 2018.

Boeing had accepted responsibility for the Ethiopian Airlines crash and acknowledged the need to pay damages to Garg’s survivors.

But the trial weighed the sum, with Boeing’s attorney contesting testimony from a plaintiff witness on the extent that Garg suffered prior to dying.