The Supreme Court decided Monday not to shield Boeing from a lawsuit brought by Southwest’s pilots’ union over damages resulting from the grounding of 737 MAX aircraft six years ago. The court unanimously left in place a Texas state court ruling that permits the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) to seek reparations for work lost to the grounding. The latest model Boeings were grounded for 20 months from March 2019 to December 2020 to fix flight control systems blamed for two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed a total of 346 people.
Boeing tried to deflect the suit by arguing that the matter should be decided under the Railway Labor Act, but the Texas court disagreed. It said the Railway Act only deals with disputes between airlines and their employees and Boeing is not an airline, nor is SWAPA an employee. Boeing argued allowing the suit to proceed “undermines one of the most significant statutes in all of labor law.” The Supreme Court was similarly unmoved and there is no appeal of their decision. It’s not clear how much money SWAPA is looking for in the Boeing suit or whether the decision will prompt further suits against Boeing.
