An airline’s liability for a passenger’s injury or death is most often determined by state law. Domestic travelers can hold the airline responsible, or liable in legal terms, only if the injuries were caused by the airline’s negligence. In other words, the airline is not responsible unless it was careless.
But, if the passenger’s itinerary includes a stop in a foreign country, even if they are currently on the domestic portion of their trip, then the airline’s liability is controlled entirely by international treaties. The treaties are known as the Warsaw Convention and the Montreal Convention. Under the Montreal Convention, whether the airline was negligent is for the most part irrelevant. All that matters is whether the passenger was injured by an “accident.” The U.S. Supreme Court has defined “accident” to mean “an unexpected or unusual event or happening that is external to the passenger.”
Airline passengers may suffer injuries caused by baggage falling from overhead bins, slips and falls, food carts, defective seats, severe turbulence and many other causes. Many in-flight injuries result from luggage falling out of overhead bins and it’s the passenger in the aisle seat who is most often injured. The injuries can be serious and can include mild traumatic brain injury. As mentioned above, if the baggage falls and injures a passenger who is travelling internationally, then the Montreal Convention or Warsaw Conventions apply. If the passenger was injured on a domestic flight, then they must prove that the airline was negligent before the airline can be held liable. For example, the passenger must prove that a flight attendant was careless in opening a baggage compartment and allowing the object to fall out. Or, the passenger must prove that the bag fell out when a fellow passenger opened the compartment because a flight attendant stowed the bag improperly.
Turbulence causes a number of in-flight accidents every year as well. Bumpy rides can cause unbelted passengers to be thrown from their seats. While an airline is not liable for accidents that occur due to “acts of god,” that is, unforeseen events of nature that cannot be prevented, airlines cannot always hide behind the “act of god” defense when passengers are injured in turbulence. For example, if the flight crew was able to foresee the turbulence (and often they can), but failed to warn passengers to fasten seat belts or otherwise take precautions to protect passengers from injury, the airline may be liable for passenger injuries. Similarly, if the pilot should have been able to predict the turbulence, but failed to do so due to lack of vigilance, the airline could be liable for injuries caused by the turbulence. The Montreal Convention also entitles injured passengers to be compensated for the emotional distress they have suffered, but only if they also suffered some sort of physical injury as well.
Another common cause of injury is rolling food carts. Carts can injure seated passengers when rolling by, ramming shoulders or other body parts, or can hit passengers that are moving about the cabin.
In addition to suffering injuries while on an airplane passengers also suffer injuries while getting off or on the plane. We have seen injuries caused by defective stairs and ramps leading to or from a plane.
We have also recently brought a number of cases against different airlines for neglecting and not taking proper care of children that were traveling alone under the airlines supervision.
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