The lawyers for the family members say they were informed Friday morning that the DOJ is considering dismissing the criminal case pending against Boeing and instead submitting a non-prosecution agreement. The U.S. government has alleged Boeing conspired to mislead regulators who approved minimal pilot-training requirements for the 737 Max nearly a decade ago.

"Today the Justice Department's Criminal Division held a 'conferral session' but didn't truly confer at all. Instead, they conveyed their preconceived idea that Boeing should be allowed to escape any real consequences for its deadly lies," Paul Cassell, attorney for some of the families in the case, said in a release. "We hope that this bizarre plan will be rejected by the leadership of the Department. If not -- and if the Department moves to dismiss the case -- we will strenuously object before Judge (Reed) O'Connor. Dismissing the case would dishonor the memories of 346 victims who Boeing killed through its callous lies. We will be asking Judge O'Connor to use his recognized authority under federal law to reject any proposal like this, which would be clearly contrary to the public interest."