As the families await word from the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding its next steps in the criminal prosecution of Boeing following two deadly crashes five years ago, the attorney for families today filed a motion for reconsideration before the Texas federal judge to reconsider his earlier ruling denying an independent corporate monitor of Boeing’s facilities.

Citing recent safety incidents and concerns since the ruling of Judge Reed O’Connor in February 2023, Professor Paul Cassell of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, attorney for the families, asked the judge to “rapidly install a judicial monitor of Boeing to ensure public safety.” According to the motion filed this afternoon, “the families know all too well the deadly consequences that can follow from delaying consideration of safety issues.”

Boeing violated a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA)

In May, the Justice Department determined that Boeing violated a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) in connection with a pending criminal conspiracy charge against Boeing. The Department’s determination followed numerous and widely reported safety issues at Boeing, including a door plug blowing off a mid-air flight of a Boeing jet in January.

Among the recent and serious safety issues raised in the motion were not only the January 5 door plug blowout but also many other Boeing safety issues, including the grounding of an aircraft following a “Dutch roll” on a May 25 flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Oakland, California, with 175 passengers and six crew members on board. The Federal Aviation Administration is reportedly investigating the incident.

Criminal Charges against Boeing: B737 MAX Justice for victims?

The motion highlights as a precipitating reason for the filing of the Senate testimony last week by Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun. Calhoun testified on June 18 before the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that he is “proud of every action we have taken” at Boeing.

Not taking steps to protect public safety

The motion expresses alarm that Calhoun is not taking additional steps to protect public safety and asks Judge O’Connor to order an independent monitor of Boeing’s safety efforts.

The families also ask for an expedited briefing schedule on the issues raised in the motion, “which go to the public safety and the risk of a potential catastrophic third crash.”

Professor Cassell stated: “Through this motion, the victims’ families continue their efforts to hold Boeing accountable for what has been accurately described by Judge O’Connor as ‘the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.’ Boeing’s lack of full and transparent safety efforts requires an aggressive response. Only an independent, judicially appointed monitor can restore Boeing’s credibility and implement the safety measures that the flying public deserves.”

The Motion was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. Case No. 4:21-cr-005-O-1 by Clifford Law Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker.

Clifford Law Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker

Pamela Sakowicz Menaker is the Communications Partner at Clifford Law Offices. As an attorney with two degrees in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Pam combines her experience in these two fields in handling the press in the many high-profile cases handled by the firm. For instance, Pam was involved in the month-long trial of internationally acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton who was severely injured by a Metra train.

The case drew front-page headlines and daily television coverage in what has been described as the most publicized civil trial in the history of Cook County. It resulted in a $29.6 million verdict that was upheld on appeal. Pam is involved with numerous clients from the initial filing of a case to the final settlement of the matter. She routinely conducts press conferences so that an organized, considered approach to high-profile matters can be presented that ensures the client’s rights are protected.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Clifford Law Offices was the first Chicago personal injury firm to hold virtual press conferences on breaking news. Other cases for which she has handled the press that drew national media attention include the fire at the Cook County Administration Building, the scaffolding collapse at the John Hancock Building, the porch collapse in Chicago that killed 13 and injured dozens of others, the Union Pacific derailment that led to a bridge collapse killing a Chicago suburban couple and most recently an international press conference held in Boston involving seven of the eight circus performers who were injured when a “human chandelier” act collapsed in Rhode Island during a Ringling Brothers performance.

Most recently, Pam conducted press conferences that streamed worldwide on behalf of American and Canadian clients who lost loved ones in the Boeing 737 Max8 crash in Ethiopia.

Pam served two three-year terms on the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) Board of Governors (2016-2022). She was appointed as liaison to several committees: Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee (ARDC), Legal Technology, Marketing and Communications, Human Rights, Bar Journal Editorial Board and Standing Committee on Delivery of Legal Services.

She also was elected by the Board to serve on the Standing Committee on Scope and Correlation (SCOPE). Currently, she serves on the ISBA Bench and Bar Committee, the Tort Law Committee, and as a member of the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board, the organization’s monthly publication that goes out to its thousands of members.

She also was elected to three terms on the ISBA Assembly, representing Cook County. She chaired the ISBA Ask-A-Lawyer Day (2016) and Co-Chaired the IBF’s Host Committee Annual Gala (2006). She served on the 2020 IBF Gala Committee designed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars which ultimately is used to benefit the dozens of pro bono legal organizations around Chicago, is an event that attracts hundreds of lawyers who also are committed to furthering the philanthropic goals of the charitable arm of the Illinois Bar Association.

Menaker served on the Host Committee of the 120th Anniversary of “30 Female Blackstones” (2013) at the request of the ISBA President.

Pam also has been involved in handling the press involving Girl X, a girl left for dead at a Chicago housing project; Michael Chambers, who was killed by off-duty officers at a wedding in south suburban Countryside; Bob Collins, the popular WGN radio personality who was killed in a small plane crash; Nancy Clay, who was killed in a high-rise fire when Chicago firefighters were unable to reach her; and every major commercial airline crash in the United States over the past decade in which Robert Clifford has been involved.

Pam’s background is grounded in journalism. Her experience includes every type of media outlet. Upon graduating from Northwestern, Pam worked as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. She then moved to ABC-TV where she worked for the local affiliate in Chicago as a writer/producer for the local news.

She also created the column Prelude in N for North Shore Magazine which she wrote for two years for the popular magazine. She has been a Washington correspondent and political speechwriter in the nation’s capital as well as a producer/writer for Tribune Entertainment and the New York Times Corporation where she worked on a pilot for a news magazine program.

Pam has taught as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism where she taught writing to graduate students and assisted in teaching Law of Journalism to undergraduates. Most recently, Pam was an adjunct faculty member in the Integrated Marketing and Communications Department of Medill where she taught “Law, Policy and Ethics of Marketing.”

Pam has been very involved in legal writing since her graduation from Loyola University School of Law in 1984. Having been the first night-law student selected to compete on the school’s Moot Court team, while still a student Pam argued a case before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in her Appellate Practicum class. After being sworn in as an attorney in Illinois, she later appeared before that court as a pro bono attorney representing criminal defendants for the Northern District of Illinois. She also was selected as an extern attorney and worked in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, Consumer Fraud Division, where she was introduced to issues of consumer fraud.

In 1991, she continued her brief writing for Clifford Law Offices as well as handling of the press on high-profile cases that grew until her appointment in 2001 as the firm’s Communications Partner, which recognizes her journalism as well as her legal experience.

She is involved in other bar associations including the American Bar Association where she was a member of leadership serving on the Task Force for Young Litigators and as a member of the Standing Committee on Strategic Communications. She was appointed by the ABA President to serve on the Human Trafficking Task Force for two years.

She also was Co-Chair of the Section of Litigation’s Written Materials Committee. She also served as an Editor on the ABA’s Litigation Magazine and Litigation News which is distributed quarterly to the section’s 60,000-plus member section. She also served as Co-Chair of the Annual Meeting in Chicago in 2005 and again as a member of the Host Committee in 2015, helping organize the dozens of programs and written materials accompanying the continuing legal education seminars.

Pam was elected to a two-year term on the Chicago Bar Association (CBA) Board of Managers from 2016-18. She has served on the CBA Editorial Board, the Chicago Bar Record, since 1985, serving as its book review editor from 1995 to 2016.

In 2006, she was appointed to serve as Co-Chair of the CBA/Chicago Bar Foundation Pro Bono Week Committee, which was marked by the Chicago mayor and the Illinois governor proclaiming it a special week in October in recognition of the efforts of the CBA and CBF, the charitable arm of the CBA, in raising the awareness of lawyers’ pro bono efforts in Chicago and around the state. She also served on the CBA Judicial Evaluation Committee and currently serves on its Public Affairs Committee.

Currently, Pam spearheads the continuing legal education programs at Clifford Law Offices which is in its 17th year. Annually, it draws more than 4,000 attendees in what is considered the largest CLE program in the country. She was a member of the Center for Conflict Resolution and the Public Interest Law Initiative (2016-18).

Pam worked with the UIC/John Marshall Law School Domestic Violence Clinic on special projects to assist survivors to become whole again.

Pam has been an active member of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago and served as its President (2018-2019). She also serves on the Board of Governors of the Advocates Society of Polish Lawyers and is a member of the North Suburban Bar Association.