Texas Business Court Decision – September 28, 2026
No. 25-BC01A-0040 Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) v. The Boeing Company (1st Div., Judge Bouressa) 2026 Tex. Bus. 68 25-bc01a-0040-southwest-airlines-pilots-assoc-v-boeing-co-2026-tex-bus-68.pdf
Fraud – 737 Max Litigation.
For the court’s prior opinion, see S.W. Airlines Pilots Assoc., 2026 Tex. Bus. 37. SWAPA’s initial pleadings advanced what the court summarizes as two categories of claims. First, SWAPA alleged Boeing rushed its rollout if the 737 Max, leading to two crashes and the grounding of the fleet, and resulting in costly federal investigations. SWAPA sought damages based on flights its pilots would have piloted, dues it would have received, and fees it incurred in connection with the investigations – all of which constitute consequential damages. Separately, SWAP alleged misrepresentations, omissions, and tortious interference with its collective bargaining negotiations with Southwest Airlines. SWAPA’s pleadings failed to articulate damages attributable to this second category. Boeing’s earlier motion to dismiss argued that SWAPA could not establish the essential element of proximate cause. The court denied the motion without prejudice, finding there was no proximate cause for the first category of claims and no causal link between the pleaded damages and the second category. It ordered SWAPA to replead to specify damages proximately caused by Boeing’s alleged interference in SWAPA’s collective bargaining agreement.
In its amended petition, SWAPA “doubled down” on its pleading of special damages only in the form of lost wages, lost dues, and attorneys’ fees. But “even according to SWAPA,” these damages were not proximately caused by any acts or omissions by Boeing in connection with SWAPA’s collective bargaining agreement; as a matter of law, “proximate cause does not exist for SWAPA’s alleged consequential damages of lost earnings, lost dues, and incurred attorneys’ fees.”
However, Boeing’s pleading only reaches the consequential damages pleaded by SWAPA; to the extent SWAPA seeks direct damages for representations or omissions made by Boeing to SWAPA or its members which induced it to enter into a disadvantageous collective bargaining agreement with Southwest, SWAPA’s claim for those damages remain pending before the court. Thus, SWAPA’s claims for consequential damages, including lost wages, lost dues, and attorneys’ fees are dismissed, and its claims for direct damages remains pending.