Comments on: Woman sues airline over emergency landing

By: Bob Lipton

Bob Lipton — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:24:53 +0000

I like that, Wenting. Clearly all the people mentioned in the wills of the that flight’s passengers has cause of action.

Bob

By: J.T. Wenting

J.T. Wenting — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:40:59 +0000

“The same gruff juror who agrees vigorously that there are “too many frivolous lawsuits” breaks down and weeps at the show put on by the plaintiff’s attorney. And then hands over huge damages.”

Of course he does. The moment he hears the multimillion dollar claim he sees the dollar signs in his own eyes and doesn’t want the prospect of himself cashing in reduced.

That’s why jury trials are such a bad idea for tort cases, the jurors are extremely unlikely to be unbiassed as their own greed will get the better of them.
That’s just human nature.

“Seems like you should be able to sue an airline for getting you safely to a place where something bad happened later.”

What about sueing them for denying you the opportunity to sue them for damages because of an accident that didn’t almost happen?

By: Jason T

Jason T — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 04:02:37 +0000

This is absurd. I fly all the time. I have flown 70 segments this year already. When I first started with my company I had to fly to the corporate offices for orientation. My flight was delayed for three hours due to a nor’easter. My flight ended up being the last flight to fly through while all others ended up canceled. I had never had a fear of flying but the flight was so turbulent that I had nightmares for two weeks and started having panic attacks whenever I sat down in a plane or felt the smallest bump of turbulence. I had to start taking Xanax to deal with the panic attacks because they were so bad. I forced myself off of the Xanax because I didn’t want to rely on a crutch to do my job. I had a stretch of 15 flights in three weeks in which I purposely left the Xanax at home. That cured me of my fear of flying to where now I not only enjoy the turbulence but look forward to it. Not once did I even dream of suing the airline.

Based on some of the comments I have read I can say that my situation altered my life for at least a year. It caused me to lose sleep, spend money on medication, spend more time driving to avoid flying due to fear, etc. If the plaintiff is awarded damages could this case set precedence for people who experience a situation like mine to sue an airline because of the mental anguish resulting from severe turbulent flights? I understand that this specific case deals with a bad landing so they may be viewed differently.

By: Jack Wilson

Jack Wilson — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:26:17 +0000

Seems like you should be able to sue an airline for getting you safely to a place where something bad happened later.

By: Richard Nieporent

Richard Nieporent — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:23:33 +0000

@Anonymous: Please stop using The McDonald’s Coffee Case as an example of frivolous lawsuits, because that one was a geniune problem that McDonald’s refused to solve, and involved genuine harm that McDonald’s refused to redress.

DensityDuck, if you believe that to be true, you are are the wrong website!

By: GregS

GregS — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:33:25 +0000

‘… a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney can turn just about any event into something that “changed my client’s life forever.” ‘

I’ve never understood why this argument has any weight in court. Almost *everything* that happens to you every day “changes your life forever”, even if only in a small way. If you get a divorce, or get married, or lose your job, or get a new job, or make a friend or lose one, or buy or sell a car, or learn something new, your life has changed forever. Life *is* change, and all changes change your life forever, since you can’t un-experience something after you’ve experienced it.

By: peter

peter — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:31:50 +0000

@DaffyDuck

And in other news it has been proven that knives can cut and are STILL sold sharp even though retailers have know about this very real problem for simply ages.

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:49:06 +0000

That’s not to say that this scared-of-planes lawsuit isn’t silly. But that’s up to the defense attorney to handle.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:04:49 +0000

Has I known this was possible I would have sued over the no flaps high speed landing I participated in some years ago. It may have been worth more than a fun story to tell at parties.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 01:03:42 +0000

Wow. Accidents happen lady. Everything in life can be stressful. That’s why you learn to cope somehow.