Boeing Co. agreed to pay at least $50,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of John Barnett, a whistleblower who took his own life last year.

Barnett, a former Boeing employee, died in March 2024 at a time when he had been giving a deposition as part of litigation that he filed alleging that he faced retaliation for flagging safety concerns at the company.

His death, later ruled a suicide, made headlines globally and brought scrutiny of the manufacturing practices and culture at Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner factories in North Charleston, South Carolina. At the time, Boeing was also dealing with federal investigations of a Seattle-area factory after a door-shaped plug blew out of an airborne 737 Max.

The two sides also agreed to a “full, final and confidential settlemen

See Full Page