A federal judge in Texas has dismissed felony charges against Boeing, as part of a criminal conspiracy case linked to a pair of deadly 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people.

Families of the victims from the two crashes pleaded their case in U.S. District Court in Texas in early September, where they called on Judge Reed O'Connor to reject a deal negotiated by the Department of Justice that allowed Boeing to avoid criminal charges. In that deal with the DOJ, Boeing would pay families more than $445 million, and invest another $455 million in improvements to regulatory compliance and safety.

CNBC reports that on November 6, Judge O'Connor ruled that he did not have the authority to deny the DOJ's request for the case to be dismissed, despite acknowledging that the DOJ's deal with Boeing "fails to secure the necessary accountability to ensure the safety of the flying public." Although O'Connor disagreed with the DOJ's assertion that dismissing the case was in the public interest, he noted that "poor discretion may not be countered with judicial overreach." 

The day before O'Connor's ruling in Texas, Boeing also reached settlements with three families of victims from the second deadly crash, just before the trial was set to begin in federal court in Chicago. Details of the settlements were not released to the public, and several other lawsuits against Boeing are still in progress.