Aircraft leasing firm Avia Capital services, a subsidiary of Russian state Rostec, is suing Boeing for breach of contract in relation to the grounded 737 Max jets.
This marks the first lawsuit brought against the US manufacturer by a customer over the safety crisis.
Avia Capital Services is citing that the two deadly clashes, which killed a total of 346 people with the latest in March, were due to “negligent actions and decisions of Boeing” not just in designing a plane that was “defective” but also in “withholding critical information” from the US aviation safety regulator during certification.
The complaint claims that Boeing "intentionally" failed to disclose information about the airworthiness of the Max to its customers, which includes Avia, in order to persuade them to buy the aircraft.
Before the worldwide grounding in March, Avia ordered 35 Max 8 jets from Boeing, and now it wants the order cancelled.
The Financial Times has said that The Rostec subsidiary now wants the deposit to be returned by Boeing with interest, along with $75 million in “lost profit” and about $115 million in compensatory damages, plus “several times the amount” in punitive damages.