The lawsuit accused Boeing of harassing and intimidating the man until he “either gave up or be discredited.”
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CHARLESTON, S.C. — The family of a former Boeing quality control manager who police said killed himself after lawyers questioned him for days about his whistleblowing on alleged jumbo jet defects sued the airplane maker Thursday.
Boeing subjected John Barnett to a "campaign of harassment, abuse and intimidation intended to discourage, discredit and humiliate him until he would either give up or be discredited," lawyers for the family wrote in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in federal court in South Carolina.
Barnett, 62, shot himself March 9, 2024, in Charleston after answering questions from attorneys for several days. He lived in Louisiana.
"Boeing had threatened to break John, and break him it did," the attorneys wrote in court papers.
Boeing has not responded to court filings.
"We are saddened by John Barnett's death and extend our condolences to his family," the company said this week.
Barnett was a longtime Boeing employee who worked as a quality-control manager before retiring in 2017. In the years after that, he shared his concerns with journalists and became a whistleblower.
Barnett said he once saw discarded metal shavings near the wiring for the flight controls that could have cut wiring and caused a catastrophe. He noted problems with up to a quarter of the oxygen systems on Boeing's 787 planes.
Barnett shared his concerns with his...
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