Delta Air Lines is facing yet another lawsuit from a passenger who claims he was seriously injured by a flight attendant pushing a beverage cart into his knee during an international flight from Atlanta to Rome, Italy, in June 2023.
This is the second lawsuit of this type that Delta has been slapped with in less than a month after a woman flying between Paris and New York JFK claimed she suffered severe shoulder injuries when a flight attendant ‘repeatedly’ pushed a beverage cart into her shoulder.
In this latest case, Gerald Goldstein from Gulf Breeze, Florida, says he was ‘severely injured’ when a flight attendant struck his knee while she was pushing a heavy beverage cart down the aisle during the transatlantic flight on June 23, 2023.
Goldstein says that he cannot be blamed for the accident because the flight attendant did not provide sufficient warning that she would be passing with the beverage cart.
The lawsuit aims to sue Delta under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, which makes airlines liable for injuries sustained by passengers during an international flight.
The maximum award a court can order an airline to pay is around $173,000.
One of the few defenses that airlines have to fend off a claim under the Montreal Convention is to convince a court that the passenger was injured as a result of their own negligence or that of another passenger.
Goldstein says that he was injured through no fault of his own, so Delta should be on the hook to compensate him.
In order to avoid setting legal precedents, airlines will often do their very best to settle these kinds of claims out of court. After all, if litigation-happy passengers catch onto the fact that a simple run-in with a beverage cart could land them with a big payout, then it could attract a rash of similar claims.
Delta has yet to respond to Goldstein’s claim in a Florida District Court, but the airline’s attorneys are rigorously opposing the similar lawsuit filed by Gail Hamilton of Pinellas, Florida, last month.
Hamilton says she has sustained “severe and permanent” injuries to her right shoulder after a flight attendant pushed a loaded beverage cart into her during a flight from Paris in June 2022.
Just like in Goldstein’s case, Hamilton has made a claim under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention.
Delta’s lawyers, however, argue that Hamilton’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.
A similar defense will likely be mounted against Goldstein’s lawsuit.
Matt’s take
Is this the start of a rash of lawsuits from passengers claiming that they have been injured by flight attendants pushing beverage carts along the aisle? If that is the case, it might be long before flight attendants are forced to announce that they’ll be pushing carts down the aisle and that passengers must keep all their limbs and body parts within their seat area.
Matt, I agree. This goombah waits over a year to file a suit. This is nothing but a “deep pockets” suit. He’s gonna spend a lot of money to get the maximum amount but I’m betting that the airline will settle way short of his expectations. BOO FREAKING HOO.
Many crews make announcements they are pushing a heavy cart down the aisle so please keep your knees, arms, elbows, shoulders, head, etc., out of the way.
The next step we are going to go to is Sara Nelson’s Xanadu where the crew doesn’t bring out carts and provides zero service.
Last week on a total of 8 Delta flights all in the 60-90 minutes in the air range…. 3 had service in First and none in coach, 2 had service in First and coach, and 3 had no service in either cabin. Oh, the two with service in both cabins were the two shortest ones and were Endeavor.