The family of an airplane safety whistleblower is suing Boeing over his death

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The family of a former Boeing quality control manager who police say 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 yet responded in court filings.

“We are saddened by John Barnett’s death and extend our condolences to his family,” the company said in a statement this week.

Barnett was a longtime Boeing employee and worked as a quality-control manager before he retired 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 wiring for the flight controls that could have cut wiring and caused a catastrophe. He also noted problems with up to a quarter of the oxygen systems on Boeing’s 787 planes.

Barnett shared his concerns with his supervisors and others before leaving Boeing, but according to the lawsuit they responded by ignoring him and then harassing him.

Boeing intentionally gave Barnett inaccurate, poor job reviews and less desirable shifts, according to the lawsuit. Barnett's family argues the company publicly blamed him for delays that angered his co-workers and prevented him from transferring to another plant.

Barnett eventually was diagnosed with PTSD and his mental condition deteriorated, his family said.

“Whether or not Boeing intended to drive John to his death or merely destroy his ability to function, it was absolutely foreseeable that PTSD and John's unbearable depression, panic attacks, and anxiety, which would in turn lead to an elevated risk of suicide,” the lawsuit said. "Boeing may not have pulled the trigger, but Boeing's conduct was the clear cause, and the clear foreseeable cause, of John's death."

The lawsuit doesn't specify the amount of damages sought by Barnett's family but asks for compensation for emotional distress and mental anguish, back pay, 10 years of lost future earnings as well as bonuses, health expenses and his lost life insurance benefits.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. The national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.