Chicago Jury Awards $49.5 Million to Family of Woman Killed in 2019 Boeing 737 MAX Crash

A Chicago jury awarded $49.5 million in damages Wednesday to the family of a 24-year-old American who died in a 2019 Boeing 737 MAX crash.

Relatives of Samya Stumo filed the suit after she perished in the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people.

The jury deliberated for about two hours before finding that "the total amount of damages suffered by Plaintiff is $49.5 million," court documents show.

Nearly all civil lawsuits related to the crash have settled out of court. Stumo's family, however, could not reach an agreement with Boeing before the trial started Monday.

"We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302," Boeing 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."

Stumo died en route to Kenya for her first assignment with ThinkWell, a public health nonprofit working to increase health care access in Africa and Asia.

The plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, killing everyone aboard.

The incident followed a Lion Air crash four and a half months earlier in Indonesia that killed 189 people. Both involved the Boeing 737 Max 8.

Boeing grounded all 737 Max planes for nearly two years after the crashes to install required system upgrades.

The company faced a criminal fraud charge tied to the incidents. Federal prosecutors agreed to drop it after Boeing paid more than $1.1 billion in fines and an additional $445 million in compensation to crash victims' families. Boeing also had to improve internal safety and quality measures.

The agreement let Boeing avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max before the crashes.