An American Airlines passenger has filed a lawsuit against the Fort Worth-based airline, claiming he suffered permanent and debilitating back and spine injuries after a hard landing that the pilots could have avoided.
Eric Murphy filed a lawsuit in a North Carolina court on Monday accusing American Airlines of negligence. The lawsuit seeks to obtain more than $75,000 in compensation from the airline.
According to the complaint, Murphy was a passenger on an otherwise uneventful flight from Dallas Fort Worth to Charlotte on September 26, 2021, that landed with a jolt so violent that several passengers audibly screamed.
Murphy’s lawyers claim that the pilots of American Airlines Flight AA855 are to blame for “failing to monitor the approach and descent speeds, which resulted in the aircraft impacting the runway at excessive vertical speed.”
Murphy says the hard landing caused back and spine injuries that still cause him pain and suffering and have resulted in “tremendous limitations on his professional and daily activities and enjoyment of life.” Murphy fears he will need surgery to repair his injuries in the future.
According to the lawsuit, American Airlines is at fault for not adequately training its pilots. Given that the lawsuit was only recently filed, American Airlines has not yet responded to the allegations.
Murphy’s civil suit against American Airlines is the latest in a spate of similar lawsuits filed recently against a number of U.S. airlines over bizarre injuries suffered by passengers on seemingly normal flights.
Just a few weeks ago, another American Airlines passenger sued the airline after breaking his leg on a flight from Washington DC to New Orleans when he stood up to allow his seatmate to use the restroom.
Gael Severoni of Takoma Park, Maryland, was thrown to the ground when turbulence rocked the plane as he stood in the aisle. The lawsuit alleges that pilots and flight attendants should have done a better job of warning passengers of the danger of turbulence and foreseeing that the plane would soon be rocked.
The same week Severoni’s lawsuit was filed, a JetBlue passenger sued the airline after her foot became caught in a loose seatbelt, causing her to fall to the ground and break her ankle.
In this case, Maria Mistretta of Suffolk, New York, filed a lawsuit against JetBlue under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, which makes airlines liable for injuries sustained by passengers during an international flight, including boarding and disembarking.
Proving a claim under the Montreal Convention is relatively straightforward, but airlines may have a defense if they can convince a court that a passenger’s injury was the result of their own negligence.
That is exactly the defense Delta Air Lines is trying to use against a passenger who claims she was injured when a flight attendant hit her in the shoulder with a drinks cart during a flight from Paris to Newark in 2022.
In response to the recently filed lawsuit, Delta’s lawyers told the court that the victim’s injuries were caused solely by their “own culpable and negligent conduct” and that neither Delta nor its flight attendants did anything wrong or acted negligently.
It is important to note that the Montreal Convention only applies to international flights. Therefore, in this latest case, Murphy cannot rely on Article 17 of the Montreal Convention and must rely on his claim for negligence on the part of American Airlines.
Subscribe to our newsletter
No spam, just a weekly summary of the best aviation news you don’t want to miss
