Boeing Supplier Spirit Aerosystems Sues To Block Texas Safety Probe
The same day that a second Boeing-linked whistleblower death on Tuesday, supplier Spirit Aerosystems filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after he opened a safety probe into the company in late March.
Filed in Austin, Spirit is alleging that Paxton's demand for internal documents and other information is unlawful, and violates their right against unreasonable search and seizure.
Paxton opened the investigation into Spirit following "reoccurring issues with certain airplane parts provided to Boeing," including a midair blowout of an Alaskan Airlines 737 MAX door panel two months prior.
Spirit Aerosystems filed its lawsuit (pdf) against Mr. Paxton the same day that its former quality auditor, Joshua “Josh” Dean, died from a “sudden, fast-spreading infection,” according to reports. Mr. Dean came forward as a whistleblower against the Boeing manufacturer and alleged that it ignored numerous problems with the 737 MAX as early as 2012.He is the second Boeing-related whistleblower to die after John “Mitch” Barnett was found dead from an alleged self-inflicted gunshot wound the morning of a court appearance. The same attorney was representing both men in their efforts to testify about quality-control problems persistent within Boeing and its supplier, Spirit AeroSystems. -Epoch Times
Spirit is a key supplier of fuselages and other components for Boeing. Meanwhile, the Biden DOJ is mulling whether the Alaskan Airlines incident breached a deferred prosecution agreement with Boeing, which was set to expire two days later (so, absolutely yes?).
According to Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino, the supplier "brought this litigation seeking a determination whether the Texas statute at issue is constitutional under existing case law within the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court," adding that they don't plan to comment further.
Spirit alleges that Paxton's probe "bears no connection to events occurring in the State of Texas and as such has, at best, a questionable law enforcement purpose," since they only operate a single facility in Texas which houses 98 of the company's 20,655 employees.
On March 28, Paxton released a statement justifying his safety probe into Spirit.
"The potential risks associated with certain airplane models are deeply concerning and potentially life-threatening to Texans," he wrote, adding "I will hold any company responsible if they fail to maintain the standards required by the law and will do everything in my power to ensure manufacturers take passenger safety seriously."