BA
Boeing just won a courtroom round
Boeing caught a break on Friday when a federal jury in Seattle rejected LOT Polish Airlines’ claim that the company hid critical details about the 737 MAX’s MCAS flight-control system before the plane was delivered. That system sits at the center of the MAX nightmare: two fatal crashes, a global grounding, and years of legal and regulatory whiplash.
The airline had asked for $153 million, arguing the grounding and fallout from the crashes caused real financial pain. Instead, jurors took about three hours to decide Boeing was not guilty of fraud. In legal terms, that’s a pretty clean win. In reputation terms, Boeing still has a long way to go before anyone starts using the phrase “trust me, bro” unironically.
Why investors care
This doesn’t magically erase Boeing’s MAX history, but it does chip away at one more legal risk hanging over the stock. Fewer ugly courtroom surprises means less uncertainty, which is basically catnip for investors who’ve spent years watching Boeing’s headline risk machine churn.
At the same time, the company is still trying to rebuild momentum in China and beyond, where every order and every court ruling feels like part of the same comeback tour. The stock barely moved on the day, which tells you the market mostly sees this as helpful, but not exactly a fresh growth engine.
Big picture
Boeing won the trial, but the bigger story is still the same: this is a company trying to fly out of a very expensive decade. One less legal headache is nice. A truly clean runway would be nicer.