A woman is suing American Airlines for $15 million, claiming she ingested a lizard buried in her in-flight meal.
In 2003 (yes, 2003–you’ve gotta to love the speed in which cases move through court in the U.S.), Monserrate Luna dove into her lunch on a flight from New York Kennedy to San Juan, Puerto Rico, apparently without looking down at what she was eating. The movie was engrossing, she claims, which having suffered through AA’s IFE before comes as quite a shocking allegation.
Something didn’t taste right and Luna spit out whatever was in her mouth. Her son leaned over and claimed it was a lizard, though the fact that the "lizard" had feathers doesn’t speak well of Junior’s science teachers. Luna says she suffered from a rash, bloating, and diarrhea after consuming the meal.
Kenneth Gormley, AA’s lawyer handling the case, says the chewed portion was chicken skin, and that "there may have been some feathers, or what looked like feathers … but there was no lizard."
The two sides will eventually settle and we’ll never hear how much the woman actually ends up (oh, if I could only be so lucky to bite into a lizard on United…), but we can draw a lesson from poor Ms. Luna: look at your food before you eat it–especially on an airline.
You know, I found dirt all over my grapes on a United flight earlier this year from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. If a lizard is worth $15mn, that should have least been worth a few million…
Take a look at the deposition Ms. Luna was put through here.
(tip of the hat to Hunter)
This case was filed last December. It happened in 2003. It is a nuisance case. Her attorney just wants to make a few k$ and Luna will be happy with a RT back to Puerto Rico on AA in coach. These kind of things make the payments on the BMWs of some ****ing attorneys and drive my insurance rates up.