Families can seek damages for plane crash victims’ pain and terror, judge rules

Candles are lit on a memorial wall during an anniversary memorial service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 8, 2020, to remember those who died when Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302, a Boeing 737 Max, crashed shortly after takeoff on March 10, 2019, killing all 157 on board (Mulugeta Ayene/AP/PA)

Families of passengers who died in the crash of a Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia can seek damages for the pain and terror suffered by victims in the minutes before the plane flew nose-first into the ground, a federal judge has ruled.

Irishman Mick Ryan and 156 others were killed when a Boeing 737 Max crashed six minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 10, 2019.