A family is suing American Airlines for more than $100,000, claiming an aborted landing in Las Vegas ruined a carefully-planned family vacation.
Family Sues American Airlines For $100,000 After Aborted Landing
Roger Brunton and Dawn Rippy-Brunton wanted to take Dawn’s parents on a trip of a lifetime. Diane and Harold Lee Rippy Jr. were both aging and Dawn planned a very special trip she figured would likely be their last together.
The itinerary included stops in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Honolulu.
However on June 5, 2019 while landing in Las Vegas, the plane “ricocheted off the tarmac and careened back into the air.” The lawsuit further alleges:
“The aircraft then suddenly and violently rolled to the left, rolled back to the right, and started to roll left again before aborting the landing and climbing back into the sky.”
Even though the family had their seat belts fastened, the aborted landing caused injuries, according to the lawsuit. When the plane landed, the family sought medical care and were forced to cancel the remainder of their trip due to injuries sustained onboard.
The lawsuit demands $25,000 per passenger in “pain and suffering” due to “negligence” by American Airlines. The lawsuit further alleges the pilots acted recklessly and displayed a “get there at all costs’ mentality” that resulted in the needless aborted landing.
CONCLSUION
Without further details, it is impossible to speculate about the nature of the aborted landing. American Airlines has also refused to comment for this story. That said, aborted landings, also called go-arounds, are far more common than you might imagine, with thousands occurring per year in the United States alone. It is hard to believe the aborted landing in Las Vegas is due to negligence and I’m curious about how bad the injuries could be if the four passengers were properly wearing their seat belts.
image: Marco Verch / Flickr
It sounds like the flight got into some low-level wind shear and aborted the landing as a safety precaution. Would these greedy knuckleheads have preferred the pilots to have crashed into the ground by forcing the landing? From the sounds of it, this lawsuit needs to be dismissed and “Dawn” should be forced to pay everyone’s legal fees for being a greedy little creep.
Seatbelts prove that you from propelling forward, not side to side……my neck hurt days after the plane I was on jerked suddenly to one side on the runway and my head moved opposite…..it’s simple physics. So to say a person cannot be injured because they have a seatbelt on is ludicrous!
That should read: prevents you from……
How do you spell spurious lawsuit?
Their baloney has a first name it’s R-o-g-e-r, their baloney has a second name it’s R-i-p-p-y. And if you ask me why I say: “Because that’s where the money is”. Willie Sutton
I wonder if AA will try to move the case to federal court?
As has 500 attorneys on full time staff. As does not ever settle.
LAS often has windy conditions and bumpy or aborted landings are not uncommon for any carrier there. Sounds like a “Better Call Saul” lawsuit that will be dismissed out of hand.
Also, L.V. experiences terrific heat esp on the runways and tarmacs. My son and I were on a flight several years ago and we experienced a go around. Not sure if it was due to the heat or traffic.
Wind shear. The pilot wasn’t 100000% percent he had full control of the aircraft during touch down, so they aborted. The alternative could have been very, very ugly. This family will lose.
… sadly, some people always seek their “15-min of fame”. I am sure these types of people, will also sue where there’s clear air turbulence and the plane drops suddenly; probably blaming pilots for not seeing CAT in advance. Idiots.
There will be caviar in first class on domestic flights before AA ever pays them a dime, They’ve got an army of in house counsel there just to deter anyone from taking a shot at them,
I would love to be on that jury you win here’s 4 dollars a buck a piece have a good day.
Lawyers who take these cases are just as scummy as the plaintiffs. I don’t feel sorry for American, though. They are just as bad. When one of their chief pilots crashed the plane in Little Rock, American tried to sue the air traffic controller and hence, the Federal Govt, for an accident that was deemed pilot error. Money grubbimg holes, the lot of them.
I’m nervous anytime I land in Vegas. It’s always a rough landing with rocking from the wind.
So what! Read the find line buddy. Crap happens
Make these losers pay for the other sides court costs when they lose. That would put an end to this nonsense immediately.
Costs are usually awarded against the losing party.
LOLs
Flying is inherently dangerous, being as the aircraft is, you know, flying. Even though inherently dangerous that doesn’t mean that and average flight is actually dangerous, but the possibility exists. That’s why we put our trust in well trained pilots with lots of experience. Clearly the pilot thought that the TOGA was the safest bet and I doubt you’ll be able to refute that. I would like to see their injuries described in detail though. There was that case of the women who spilled hot McDonald’s coffee on herself and while it was mocked (and still is) at the time it turns out that her burns were actually extremely severe as the coffee was truly excessively hot, like boiling hot. Do I think she deserves millions of dollars? Not sure, but looking in to her story paints a different picture. So for this case I wonder just how bad their injuries were and what testimony from the other passengers provides.
How stupid and frivolous. This will be tossed.
Question is, which is worse and more damaging, the NRA or the ASAC* (American Society of Ambulance Chasers)? I wasn’t aware that “… has 500 attorneys … does not ever settle.” and “ … army of in house counsel there just to deter anyone from taking a shot at them”, good to read it. As a doctor, much as I despise lawyers, I can appreciate some defense lawyers.
“Costs are usually awarded against the losing party.” Not sure that’s correct. Some say costs are only awarded when specified by contract or statute. Hopefully for this case, the Contract Of Carriage or federal law specifies that AA can recover legal fees.
(Ambulance Chaser being synonymous with: “greedy little creep”, “spurious”, “baloney”, “scummy”, “nonsense”.)
(Point of order: “scummy lawyer” is repetitive, superfluous and redundant.)
I served on a civil jury once where a woman tried to sue a building contractor for supposedly forging her name on a delivery slip for materials that he used on her house. A frivilous lawsuit to say the least. The contractor did write her name on the receipt but there was obviously no intention to do anything wrong. 2 jurors wanted to give her a judgement and some monetary compensation. Some of the rest agreed to give her a judgement ( which meant the contractor would have to pay court costs but no money judgement. I knew her attorney and that he filed this kind of junk lawsuit on a contingency hoping to get a big money judgement. After deliberating for about an hour during which everyone got tired of arguing about nothing, I suggested that we find for the plaintiff ( the lady) and assess the damages at $1.00. The lady got .50 cents and the lawyer’s contingency fee of .50% also came to .50 cents. In my opinion they both got what they deserved and justice was served. The contractor had to pay the costs of court and his lawyer’s fee which served him right because he was a rude loudmouth from the start of the trial and was called down by the judge several times.