The BBC is reporting that families of Indonesian victims of the crash of the Lion Air Boeing 737 Max have been cheated out of claiming compensation from Boeing in the American courts.
All 189 passengers and crew died when the Boeing 737 Max crashed into the sea just 13 minutes after taking off from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on 29 October 2018.
Within weeks, relatives were offered compensation by insurance lawyers. To access the money, families had to sign agreements that would prevent them from taking legal action against Boeing or the airline, Lion Air.
Merdian Agustin's husband, Eka, was killed in the crash. She says the insurance lawyers tried to pressure her into signing away her rights.
"They give me some document to sign. The document said you can have the money but you can't sue Lion Air. You can't sue Boeing. They said you should sign this. You should move forward. In one hour or two hours you will get the money and you will continue life, but I don't want it. It's not about the money. It's about my husband's life", she said.
She did not sign but it is thought about 50 did. They received $92,000 each however under Indonesian law, they would be automatically entitled to about $88,000 anyway. Boeing are getting away with paying $4,000 to these Indonesian families even if the company is found liable in the US courts and other families are awarded much larger amounts.
The BBC also found that the same insurance lawyers had done the same in other cases involving Indonesian victims in crashes of Boeing aircraft.