An American Airlines passenger has filed a lawsuit against the Fort Worth-based carrier, claiming that he suffered permanent and debilitating back and spinal injuries after a rough landing, which the pilots should have been able to avoid.
Eric Murphy filed papers in a North Carolina court on Monday, accusing American Airlines of negligence in a lawsuit which seeks to win more than $75,000 in compensation from the carrier.
According to the complaint, Murphy was a passenger on an otherwise uneventful flight from Dallas Fort Worth to Charlotte on September 26, 2021, which landed with such a violent jolt that several passengers audibly cried out.
Attorneys acting on behalf of Murphy claim the pilots of American Airlines flight AA855 were at fault because they “failed to monitor the approach speed and rate of descent which caused the aircraft to impact the runway at an excessive vertical rate of speed”.
Murphy says the hard landing caused back and spinal injuries that continue to cause him pain and suffering and have resulted in “tremendous restrictions in his professional and daily activities and enjoyment in life.” In the future, Murphy fears he will require surgery to fix his injuries.
American Airlines is at fault, the lawsuit alleges, because it failed to train its pilots properly. Given how recently the lawsuit was filed, American Airlines is yet to respond to the allegations.
Murphy’s civil action against American Airlines is the latest in a recent spate of similar lawsuits which have been filed against a slew of U.S.-based carriers for bizarre injuries sustained by passengers during what would seem like otherwise normal flights.
Just a few weeks ago, another American Airlines passenger sued the carrier after he broke his leg when he stood up to let his seatmate out to use the lavatory during a flight from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans.
Gael Severoni of Takoma Park, Maryland, was thrown to the floor when the aircraft was rocked by turbulence at just the moment he stood in the aisle. The lawsuit alleges that the pilots and flight attendants should have done more to warn passengers about the risk of turbulence and foreseen that the plane was about to be shaken.
In the same week as Severoni’s lawsuit was filed, a JetBlue passenger sued the airline after she got her foot tangled in a loose seatbelt, which caused her to fall to the floor and break her ankle.
In that case, Maria Mistretta of Suffolk, New York State, lodged a complaint against JetBlue under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention which makes airlines liable for injuries sustained by passengers during the course of an international flight, including boarding and deplaning.
Proving a claim under the Montreal Convention is relatively straightforward, although airlines can mount a defense if they can convince a court that the injury sustained by a passenger was due to their own negligence.
That’s precisely the defense that Delta Air Lines intends to use against a passenger who claims she was injured when a flight attendant bashed a beverage cart into her shoulder 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 her “own culpable and negligent conduct” and that Delta and its flight attendants didn’t do anything wrong or behave negligently.
It’s important to note that the Montreal Convention only applies to international flights, so in this latest case, Murphy can’t use Article 17 of the Montreal Convention and will have to rely on his claim for negligence on the part of American Airlines.
