Yana BermanRussian aircraft leasing company Avia Capital Services is suing Boeing in what is reported to be the first lawsuit over the grounding of the former's 737 Max model, Financial Times wrote on August 27.
Avia Capital Services, which is a subsidiary of a Russian state-owned corporation Rostec, filed a lawsuit in Cook County circuit court in Chicago on Monday.
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According to the court documents, the company wants to sue Boeing for “negligent actions and decisions,” as well as “withholding critical information” during 737 Max's certification process in the United States. The plaintiff insists that Boeing knew that the plane was defective, but preferred to not disclose the information intentionally.
According to the lawsuit, Avia ordered 35 jets from Boeing prior to 737 Max grounding in March 2019. Now the company wants to receive back its cash deposit of $35 million along with $75 million in lost profits.
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Avia’s lawyer Steven Marks told the FT that he had been in touch with other Boeing customers who wanted to file similar lawsuits. Per Marks, Boeing initially tried to offer compensation to the Russian company, but the sum was “inadequate.”
Boeing stock was slightly up following the news, according to data from TradingView. The shares were trading at $360 as of press time.
The flights of the Boeing 737 Max have been suspended after two crashes in quick succession. In October 2018, a 737 MAX 8 that belonged to the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea with no survivors among the 189 people on board.
In March 2019, another 737 MAX 8, this time conducting an Ethiopian Airlines flight, crashed approximately six minutes after takeoff, taking the lives of 157 people.
