The Boeing Co., Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., and Eaton Aerospace LLC are immune from suit as government contractors for a May 2015 crash of an MV-22 Osprey aircraft that killed a marine at Bellows Air Force Base in Hawaii, the Ninth Circuit ruled.
The companies established the government contractor defense by showing they conformed to the government specifications for the design feature at issue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.
The estate of Lance Corporal Matthew J. Determan alleged that the crash was caused by the failure of the plane’s engine air particle separator (EAPS), which ...