If you discount the conspiracy theories, the normal reason for these types of deals is the DOJ does not feel confident they would actually win their case.
The deal essentially measures how likely each party feels that they can win.
The deal essentially measures how likely each party feels that they can win.
I'd love for it to go to trial for discovery to benefit the American public, but just doesn't seem like enough of a reason to do it.
This deathtrap bureaucracy is so entangled with government departments that you really have no practical hope of fighting it or keeping it accountable. It might as well be considered part of the US government now.
If we adjusted our perspective like this, it makes more sense why you can't "have justice". The ego of the US military complex is so massive, there's not telling it that it's wrong.
Sort of.
Another possibility is limited budgets incentivise settling
http://www.b737.org.uk/runawaystab.htm
(Of course it would be up to the prosecution to argue that the actual problem that MCAS produced was completelybrand-fucking-new, and thus both the FAA and Boeing should go and suck redundant bags of AoA sensors.)