Google Maps/ Screenshot by NPR
The family of John Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower who died a year ago as he pursued a lawsuit against his former employer, is suing the airplane maker, saying that Barnett's "PTSD, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks, all caused by Boeing's wrongful conduct, caused him to take his own life."
The wrongful death civil suit was filed in federal court in Charleston, S.C., where Barnett once worked as a quality control manager for Boeing — and where his body was discovered in a Holiday Inn parking lot in 2024.
In response to the new lawsuit, Boeing said in a brief statement sent to NPR, "We are saddened by John Barnett's death and extend our condolences to his family."
The company has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.
High-profile safety issues with Boeing's planes triggered a congressional hearing last June, where then-Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun acknowledged that Boeing employees have been fired for retaliating against whistleblowers.
Barnett's death on March 9, 2024, at age 62 was ruled a suicide by the Charleston County Coroner. Police said he was found in his locked vehicle, a bright orange Dodge Ram pickup truck, with the key fob in his pocket and what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Days earlier, he had driven from his home in Louisiana so he could give deposition testimony in a whistleblower retaliation case against Boeing, his attorneys, Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles, told NPR at the time.
In court filings,...
Member of the group DJ DOC, Lee Ha-neul has announced a counter-suit against singer Jubi Train and the representative of his agency BASS Camp Studio. On the 21st, BASS Camp Studio issued an offici...