Boeing Taps Former Federal Judge To Oversee Crash Cases

CHICAGO (AP) – Boeing is assigning its top lawyer to a new position in which he will handle legal issues stemming from two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max airliner.

The Chicago company said Wednesday that general counsel and executive vice president J. Michael Luttig was named counselor and senior adviser to CEO Dennis Muilenburg and the board.

Luttig, 64, is a former prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney general who was named to a federal appeals court in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush. He joined Boeing in 2006.

Boeing named Brett Gerry its new general counsel.

Boeing faces a growing stack of lawsuits over crashes that killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Investigators are examining the role of flight-control software that pushed the planes’ noses down based on faulty sensor readings.