Boeing has reached an agreement with the families of the victims of a March 2019 crash in Ethiopia of one of its 737-Max aircraft that claimed 157 lives, including a Rwandan citizen.

As a result of the agreement between Boeing and the families, lawyers for the victims will not seek punitive damages and Boeing will not challenge the lawsuits being filed in Illinois.

The agreement does not involve monetary compensation to the families, according to court records, but it does allow victims' families to pursue individual claims in U.S. courts instead of their home country.

Collin Gatete, a Kigali-based lawyer, said that the reason why Boeing accepted to pay compensation and not punitive damages is to redeem its reputation.

He said that punitive damages are damages exceeding simple compensation and awarded to punish the defendant.

"When a company accepts to pay punitive damages, it means that it’s wrong, and pays various kinds of damages which might be paid to the victims or whoever has been affected.”

He added: "It means that a company accepted wrongdoing and admitted punishments. From that, the company’s name might be affected, especially big companies like Boeing.”

According to Gatete, compensatory damages is money awarded to a plaintiff to compensate for damages, injury, or another incurred loss.

He added that these damages are awarded in civil court cases, where loss has occurred as a result of negligence or unlawful conduct of another party.

A Rwandan, Jackson Musoni, was among the 157 people who died in the Boeing 737-Max Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Musoni was based in South Sudan where he worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and was among delegates headed to Nairobi for a conference.

Boeing's best-selling plane was grounded for 20 months after 346 people died in two 737 MAX crashes - in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019.

The plane returned to service after Boeing made significant software and training improvements.