A mother and her two children get on a flight. The 15-year-old daughter is assigned a seat in the front of the plane while the mom and son are in the back of the plane. Without the mother’s permission or knowledge, the daughter is removed from the plane – a fact the mother didn’t discover until she landed at Detroit Metro Airport. She is now suing the airline, with the help of Jerry Thurswell, for negligence and her family’s emotional distress.
Wayne County Minor Removed from Plane Without Mother’s Knowledge
Mr. Thurswell represents Stacy Giordano, a resident of Wayne County, whose daughter was removed from their Spirit Airlines flight to make room for another passenger in April 2018. “They just pulled her off the plane,” says Mr. Thurswell. “The child says, ‘My mother is in the back of the plane. Why are you taking me off?’ They took her off and said, ‘Sit here and you’ll be on the next flight out.’” Yes, the teen was on the next flight out two hours later, but, “You don’t just separate a child from their mother,” says Mr. Thurswell.
The seat Ms. Giordano’s daughter was sitting in, according to Thurswell, was double-booked by the airline. The airline then made the choice to take the 15-year-old off the plane without notice to make room for another passenger. Ms. Giordano says her daughter was left unsupervised in Tampa while her flight continued to Detroit.
The lawsuit is now in federal court and pins the situation on the ill-training of Spirit employees. Though the airline refunded the price of one ticket and offered Ms. Giordano extra flight miles, Mr. Thurswell says that effort doesn’t begin to cover the cost of her emotional distress: “She was scared to death and no one would give her an explanation.” Ms. Giordano is seeking more than $75,000 in damages for the suffering she and her family endured.
Airline Negligence
Frequent flyers encounter complications with airlines all the time. Flight changes, delays, or seat reassignments are annoying and inconvenient, but things get sorted out eventually. When a minor child in involved, however, the stakes are different.
Negligence takes many forms, but the most succinct definition is simply this: Someone had a duty to fulfill and they did not fulfill it. Airlines provide a service, and it is their responsibility in this service to provide their travelers with safety and security, from boarding to flight to departure.
In Ms. Giordano’s case, her daughter was separated from her family, a traumatic experience to say the least. The airline did not book the flight properly; they made the choice to remove a child from the flight instead of an adult; they did not notify the teen’s family of the travel change; they failed in the service they should have provided to Ms. Giordano’s family and all Spirit Airlines passengers.
If you have suffered because of someone else’s negligence, you may have a case. Remember, you don’t have to experience physical damage to suffer. Emotional and mental distress is powerful, life-altering, and long-lasting, sometimes permanent. Get justice. Contact Jerry Thurswell and the personal injury lawyers at Thurswell Law to find out if you have a case. Schedule a consultation by calling (248) 354-2222 today. We do not charge any fees unless you collect.
