A 69 year old passenger on a commercial flight was feeling lightheaded when she emerged from the aft restroom and told a flight attendant within arm’s reach she was about to pass out. She asked to sit in a jump seat. The flight attendant said it’s not allowed. Passenger repeated that she was going to faint. Flight attendant did nothing to assist her to her seat, steady her or help her sit on the floor. She passed out, breaking her ankle. Three surgeries and months of therapy followed. Arthritis developed at fracture site leaving her with permanent discomfort.

Our lawyers have experience in claims arising from injuries due to the negligence of air carriers, bus lines, taxi services, and airport transport. They knew:

A common carrier is under a duty to its passengers to take reasonable action

(a) to protect them against unreasonable risk of physical harm, and

(b) to give them first aid after it knows or has reason to know that they are ill or injured, and to care for them until they can be cared for by others. .

With that knowledge we attempted to settle with the insurer for the airline, but it refused to believe that the airline had any fault.

After filing suit against the airline in the United States District Court of Arizona, serving the airline, and taking the deposition of the flight attendant, who could not remember the incident, our lawyer persuaded the airline to mediate the case through an experienced nationally known mediator in Chicago. After hours of negotiations, the matter was settled for $550,000.

As part of the settlement we negotiated a reduction of medical liens claimed by a Medicare Advantage Health Plan that enabled our client to keep an additional $20,000.