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A California federal judge has pared back—but not dismissed—the high-stakes Boeing Rolls-Royce Osprey Crash suit, ruling Monday that while claims of fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of contract don’t pass legal muster, allegations of negligent concealment and related claims will remain in play. The case stems from the June 2022 crash of a V-22 Osprey that claimed the lives of five U.S. Marines during a training mission.

Fraud and Contract Claims Cut

U.S. District Judge Benjamin J. Cheeks handed a partial win to Bell Textron Inc., Boeing Co. and Rolls-Royce Corp., who had urged the court to toss the amended complaint filed by the families of Marines John J. Sax, Seth D. Rasmuson, Nathan E. Carlson, Evan A. Strickland and Nicholas P. Losapio.

The judge found the fraud allegations “impermissibly lumped together” the three corporate defendants without detailing their individual roles or pinpointing when or how alleged misrepresentations occurred. Simply citing Boeing’s alleged false claims spanning 2007 to 2018 and a 2023 press release was not enough to show precision in pleading, Cheeks ruled.

As for the breach of contract counts, the judge said the families had failed to identify what contractual language was violated, or whether the Marines themselves—not the U.S. military as an institution—were intended beneficiaries of those agreements.

Negligent Concealment Moves Forward

But in a critical blow to the defendants, Judge Cheeks allowed negligent misrepresentation and concealment claims to move forward. He noted the pleading standards are less strict than for fraud and that the families had sufficiently alleged that the companies made false representations without a reasonable basis—representations on which the Marines relied to their detriment.

The court also found that allegations tied to omissions—namely, that the Osprey’s known defects posed “an unreasonable risk to personal safety”—were adequately pleaded to survive dismissal.

Deadly Crash Under Scrutiny

The lawsuit, filed in May 2024, alleges that the fatal crash was caused by a “hard clutch engagement” in one engine that cascaded into the other due to the V-22’s interconnected drive systems, ultimately cutting off power and dooming the aircraft.

The Marines were conducting a routine training mission on a clear day when the catastrophic failure struck, igniting questions about whether the aircraft’s longstanding mechanical risks were downplayed.

Industry Giants Still in the Hot Seat

Bell, Boeing and Rolls-Royce had argued in November that the complaint was “hopelessly vague.” But while they successfully convinced the court to strike out the fraud and contract claims, they remain very much entangled in litigation over whether they knowingly concealed defects in the Osprey.