Boeing (BOE, Washington National) concealed safety problems with its B737 MAX when LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin) selected the aircraft in 2016 to support its financial recovery plans, the airline’s lawyer claimed at the US District Court in Seattle, where the long-running case got underway on May 11, Reuters reported.

During his opening statement, attorney Anthony Battista said the case centred on "Boeing's lies and deception and the devastating financial harm it caused" the airline. He argued that Boeing failed to disclose serious issues with the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), flight-control software later implicated in the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019.

LOT sued Boeing in October 2021, seeking USD250 million in damages linked to the global grounding of the B737 MAX for nearly two years following the crashes that killed 346 people.

According to LOT, Boeing misled regulators and customers about MCAS to avoid costly simulator training requirements for pilots transitioning from earlier B737 models. Former LOT executive Maciej Wilk testified that pilot training costs were central to the airline’s decision to lease fifteen MAX aircraft instead of rival A320 family jets.

LOT said it continued operating the aircraft until regulators worldwide grounded the MAX fleet after the second crash in March 2019. The grounding lasted about 20 months before authorities approved the type’s return to service following software modifications and additional pilot training requirements.

Boeing’s lawyer rejected the airline's claims, arguing that LOT continued flying the MAX after it returned to service. He accused the carrier of "crying foul and fraud out of one side of their mouth in the courtroom" while continuing to fly the MAX every day. "Is that how the victim of a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme behaves?" he asked.

Boeing has already paid out billions of dollars to the families of victims of the two crashes, the company has previously told Reuters. It also paid out huge amounts in out-of-court settlements with airlines hurt by the MAX grounding. The sum has not been publicly disclosed.