Man Sues US Air for Not Warning of Night Flight Alcohol Effects
 

Only in America (hopefully)...

Another airline alcohol story:

Man sues airline after falling down escalator after drinking on flight

By KRISTEN ZAMBO, [email protected]
March 31, 2004

A West Virginia man is suing an airline company, alleging it didn't notify him that drinking alcohol at night might adversely affect passengers before he fell down an escalator at Southwest Florida International Airport.

Floyd W. Shuler, 61, filed the lawsuit against Virginia-based US Airways Inc. in circuit court in Fort Myers. Shuler, who has lived part-time on Marco Island, said in the suit that US Airways was negligent by failing to warn him the effects of alcohol are greater at night on airline passengers, and that the company did not properly maintain the escalator at the airport when he fell down while using it on Aug. 28, 1999.

"US Airways failed to warn (Shuler) and its other passengers of the increased effect that consumption of alcoholic beverages has on airline passengers who consume alcoholic beverages while in flight and while flying at night," according to the lawsuit, which was obtained Tuesday.

Messages were left Tuesday for Shuler's attorney, Paul L. Kutcher, but he could not be reached for comment. Shuler also could not be reached for comment. It could not be determined whether Shuler still resides on Marco Island on a seasonal basis.

Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for US Airways, declined to comment.

The airline serves California red, white and sparkling wines, beer, brandy, gin, rum, vodka, whiskey and selected cordials to passengers after 10 a.m. each day. Beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages cost $4 each on North American and Caribbean flights in coach class, and are complimentary in first class, according to the company's in-flight beverage service policy.

The suit seeks damages in excess of $15,000.

"After (Shuler) stepped onto the 'down' escalator ... the escalator unexpectedly and suddenly stopped. (Shuler) stepped onto the escalator ... with the expectation that (the) escalator was in operation," according to the suit. "(Shuler) lost his balance and fell near the top of the escalator and his body violently tumbled down the stopped escalator, until his body came to rest on the ground floor."

Shuler also filed a lawsuit against the Lee County Port Authority, which controls the airport, in July 2003. However, court records show Shuler voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit Friday, March 26, the same day he filed suit against US Airways.


http://www1.naplesnews.com/npdn/boni...770841,00.html

IMHO I think ALL Americans who bring lawsuits like this should sue the surgeon who removed their brains!!!:hmm:

Yep, he waited until US Airways was out of bankruptcy (and not yet in liquidation) to shake them down for a settlement. This alleged incident occured in 1999.

I think these kinds of lawsuits will be the death of some companies. Cant people accept the fact that they F#@ked up and not have to blame an airline for something thats not part of their job. They are supposed to conduct a safe flight from point A to point B and not to instruct boozers on how to hold their drink. I wonder if that same guy had gone on a skiing trip to somewhere with an alt of 10000', had a few drinks at night, slipped on black ice and cut his knee. Would he be able to sue the travel agent for not telling him about the effects of alcahol at altitude at night. Makes you wonder

how about we all get a fund together and sue this pratt and his daft lawyer for causing us all the stress of having to deal with this subject on this forum !!!

A brilliant suggestion toon . And by American standards we should win. However, I insist that all proceeds go to Danny and PPRuNe. Any American lawyers out there want to take the case on?

Wait! Hold on a minute!!!!!!!!

What are you people thinking-to criticize the plaintiff's attorney, a hard-working professional bound by integrity and a conscien$e?



How about the SPINELESS JUDGES who accept these types of cases, as with the case started by the woman who spilled hot McDonald's coffee on her ****?

Are these courts not run by judges who believe in milking insurance company's (and us) by refusing to throw out such cases?


Let us hear the debates from a US judge on this forum...........eh, not likely?:O

Let's hear from anybody, male or female, that feels that the instant they fork over their hard earned on a ticket and strap themselves in, that they can remove their brain and act like they have just hauled their @sses out of the shallow end of the gene pool.

Jerricho,
Not a chance, the people you are refering to, who, " hauled their @sses out of the shallow end of the gene pool." are the types who appear on Jerry Springer, and probably wouldn't have a clue as to how to turn on a computer unless their psychiatrist told them how to do it.

419

When I was working in an upmarket hotel in the Aldwych area of London ... the head porter warned me: "When people walk through the front door - their arms drop off. Because they can no longer carry their own bags, even to the front desk." I see that, across 25 years of time, nothing has changed. :rolleyes:

Incidentally, I always find that drinking alcohol on board and at night has a reduced influence on me and I can drink far more than I do on the ground. Naturally, I have put this to the test ... time and time again. :=

--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"I'm gonna be RICH I tell ya, RICH!"

Hic

419 - :ok: Spot on 90% of the time, but there are pax who wouldn't be described as your normal "Jerry Springer crowd" or who would normally be referred to as fine upstanding citizens, leave their manners, brains and common sense at home when they travel.

Isn't the definition of a moron a "normal person with an airline ticket"?

I was in a bar in the US once, when some loud mouthed woman slopped her glass of wine on the floor, then slipped on her own wine. Immediately she started whining about the floor being in a danferous state and how she was "gonna sue the ar$e off this goddam place". The group I was with called over the manager and said that we'd all seen the clumsy woman spill her own drink before she slipped and that we'd be happy to act as witnesses...in a loud enough voice for the stupid tart to hear. The manager thanked us - and gave us a free round!

Only in America......

Yeah, that could never happen in blighty could it?

Probably not................

Nuts !
 

Probably yes....

Unless you agree with the law firm of Steel and Shamash of London that the coffee was to hot. Too hot 26 times with a resulting group action law suit in the UK for those unable to be accountable for themselves.

Only in America.....and the UK.

Aint it a bitch that you suffer from the same things we do?

You're right, West Coast, the UK has started on the slippery slope of 'no-win no-fee' litigation. I think you'll find that we've still got some way to go before things get as bad as they are on your side of the pond.

When I drive in the US, I'm always amused by the message stencilled on the rear-view mirror:
"Objects in this mirror are closer than they appear".
I'm sure this is the result of some moron failing to realise that the mirror is convex, pulling out in front of another vehicle, getting rear-ended and successfully suing the manufacturer. I usually joke to my american friends that, for the benefit of the hard of understanding, the message should be extended to include:
"... and they are behind you"!

Have a nice day now ...

On the packets of mixed nuts our airline served, there was a caution that "This product may contain peanuts", which I suppose was kind of encouraging.

More worryingly, there was the packet of apple segments, which listed as its contents: "Apple" (I kid you not) - and then bewilderingly added, "We cannot guarantee that this product does not contain nuts". I always wanted to ask the question, "Where???!!!"

One of the crew I work with said that she had an American on a flight between London and Paris asking about the complimentary French newspapers we gave out: "These French newspapers. Are they in French?"

Sorry - off subject, but I wanted to tell the story.