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Old 10th Nov 2012, 03:31
  #414 (permalink)  
Passenger 389
 
Join Date: May 2008
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here come the lawsuits.....

CHICAGO (AP) — Passengers on a plane that crash-landed in Poland last year when its landing gear failed to deploy have sued Boeing and the firm that inspected the airliner before it departed New Jersey, with one attorney saying his clients suffered severe emotional trauma from thinking they were about to die.

A lawsuit claiming both physical and psychological damage was filed this week in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, where Boeing is headquartered, contends design flaws in the 767-300 led to fluid leaking from the hydraulic system. It said workers of New York-based Mach II Maintenance should have detected it.

* * * *

[T]he psychological trauma was intense, as the pilot told passengers over the intercom that the crew had no choice but to land without wheels, the Chicago-area attorney representing the plaintiffs told The Associated Press on Friday.

"You've got the pilot telling them that things aren't looking good, you had people texting their loved ones saying, 'I don't know if I'll ever see you again, goodbye,' " said Floyd Wisner. "There's the terror that you are about to die."

Some of the around 80 passengers listed as plaintiffs still are plagued by nightmares, he said, and some say they can never set foot on a plane again, Wisner said, calling it "classic post-traumatic stress disorder."

People who are skeptical of such claims don't understand what his clients went through, he added.

"This is a near-death experience," he said. "That you didn't die is great. But you suffered damage from thinking you would die."
[ Uh.... I've been in several "near-death" situations. Never sued anyone because of it. And this was a near-death experience in their own minds only. Not a particularly difficult landing for a competent crew, as many on this thread already have pointed out.

Some passengers may have PTSD. But many are greedy, or for various reasons (money being one) have chosen to embrace a victim personna. Our legal system in America encourages that.

Suing the manufacturer and maintenance company may allow the Plaintiffs to circumvent the liability and damage limitations of the Warsaw/Montreal Convention (for an international flight).

There are many good things about America. Jury roulette just isn't one of them. ]

Last edited by Passenger 389; 10th Nov 2012 at 03:58. Reason: 1. Clarified quote. 2. In comment regarding Warsaw/Montreal Convention, replaced "likely will" with "may" as the applicable legal rule can differ for each defendant.
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