Roy Goldberg Discusses Boeing's DOJ Settlement with the Wall Street Journal

01.15.2021

Aviation Partner Roy Goldberg recently spoke with the Wall Street Journal on Boeing's deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department over safety and compliance programs following interactions with regulators on the flight control system for its 737 MAX airplanes.

As part of the settlement, the DOJ is requiring Boeing to meet with DOJ officials to discuss safeguards once a quarter. Roy said the DOJ settlement was consistent with the approach taken by the Federal Aviation Administration in recent years in partnering with aircraft manufacturers to ensure safety on a prospective basis.

"The main thing going forward is to make sure that pilots and engineers know they can speak up," Roy said. "You have to separate out the business motive of Boeing and the safety. You can't have them tied together."

Roy also discussed the developments in a separate Boeing legal action in a recent blog post, covering Boeing's use of the Tucker Act to sue the Department of Defense for "Illegal exaction" in connection with contract costs, as well as the recent unsuccessful effort to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals to temporarily ban use of the re-authorized 737 MAX

In his practice, Roy is a trial, appellate and regulatory attorney and transportation lawyer who represents corporations, partnerships, airlines, airports, trade associations, aircraft owners, airport vendors, developers and other aviation and transportation entities on a wide range of commercial and regulatory litigation matters. Additionally, he provides advice and counseling to airlines, airports and other aviation industry entities.