Boeing Beats ERISA Appeal Over Stock Drop After 737 MAX Crashes

Boeing Co. defeated an appeal by employees who said they lost money in their 401(k) accounts when the company’s stock price fell following two recent crashes of the 737 MAX airliner, according to a Seventh Circuit ruling issued Monday.

A Boeing committee’s decision to tap an outside fiduciary to manage the Boeing stock held in the company’s retirement plan means that neither the company nor the committee can be held liable under ERISA for losses associated with the stock’s decline in value, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit said. This delegation of authority—which the court called both ...