Court Appoints Steve Berman, Hagens Berman to Lead Boeing Race Discrimination Suit.

Business Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 2003

The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) will again face the Seattle law firm Hagens Berman in a major proposed class-action case, the U.S. District Court ruled this week.

The racial-bias case, originally filed in 1997, alleges that Boeing allows widespread racial discrimination throughout its operations. Boeing reached a $15 million settlement with the original plaintiffs in 1999, but a group of African-American employees thought the settlement was grossly inadequate and appealed in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals agreed that the settlement was flawed and rejected it, sending the case back to District Court. After reviewing several competing applications for lead counsel for the plaintiffs, the court appointed Hagens Berman as lead counsel.

In 1997, Hagens Berman led a shareholder suit against Boeing, claiming Boeing executives knowingly made misleading statements to the public about Boeing's production problems in order to gain approval for a merger with McDonnell Douglas Corp.

In 1999 Boeing settled the case for $93 million while admitting no wrongdoing. The settlement is the second largest of its kind in Washington state history.

The firm also represents women in five separate state class actions in which the company is accused of gender bias. Those cases are currently awaiting trial dates.

"We are keenly aware of the responsibility the court has placed on our firm in taking the lead in this case," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman. "We've been very involved in reviewing the evidence in the case, talking with the plaintiffs and working alongside the original counsel, and we're confident that we represent the plaintiffs' interests."

U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour approved the original settlement on September 30, 1999, and will be the judge hearing the new case.

The original lawsuit accused Boeing of failing to give minority employees equal opportunity for advancement and for harassing them when they complained of the practice. Boeing admitted no wrongdoing in the 1999 $15 million settlement, and agreed to use a portion of the funds to create programs to address employee concerns.

"We believe the evidence paints a compelling picture that people of color are treated very differently when it comes to opportunity and promotions at Boeing," said Berman. "Aside from whether the earlier settlement is fair, our job now is to vigorously represent our clients' interests."

Berman said that his firm's earlier litigation against the aerospace giant certainly factors into his view of the case. "When we filed the shareholder case in 1999 and later the gender cases, we were understandably daunted in challenging what was then the world's largest airplane maker, and Seattle's corporate poster child," he noted. "A lot has changed since then, including our understanding of how the company operates and deals with these sorts of issues."

For more information regarding this case, visit www.hagens-berman.com

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman is a law firm with offices in Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles and Phoenix. The firm has developed a nationally recognized practice in class action litigation. The firm is co-lead counsel in litigation to recover losses from Enron employees' retirement funds and represented Washington and 12 other states in lawsuits against the tobacco industry that resulted in the largest settlement in the history of litigation. The firm also served as counsel in several other high-profile cases including the Washington Public Power Supply litigation, which resulted in a settlement of more than $850 million, and the $92.5 million settlement of The Boeing Company litigation. Other notable cases include litigation involving the Exxon Valdez oil spill; Louisiana Pacific Siding; Morrison Knudsen; Piper Jaffrey; Nordstrom; Boston Chicken; and Noah's Bagels.