Peanut plaintiff feeds airline lawsuit surge

by Christopher Elliott on June 3, 2008

Is it too soon to say frivolous lawsuits against airlines have become a full-blown trend?

The latest court action involves Tehmina Haque, a New York ophthalmologist who is suing American Airlines because it served peanut snacks on a flight. Haque’s four-year-old son has a peanut allergy.

Just a week before, a New York attorney sued Delta Air Lines for $1 million for ruining his mother’s vacation. The suit claims a Delta worker caused the attorney, his wife, their two teens and his mom, Nelida Roth, to miss their flight to Buenos Aires, forcing them to forfeit several days of their vacation.

And a week before that, there was the case of Gokhan Mutlu — also of Manhattan, curiously — who sued JetBlue Airways for $2 million because he was asked to spend part of his flight on the toilet.

Is it something in the water in New York? Or are is “sue the airline” becoming a new passenger pastime?

I think that as airline service continues to slide, people are going to be taking their air carrier to court with greater frequency. Whether they have a case — or not.

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Tagged as: American Airlines, continental, delta, lawsuits, peanuts

  • Jen

    I think the peanut allergy lawsuit is incredibly frivolous. AA’s website even has a Peanut Allergy policy that states, “Peanut Allergy – American recognizes that some passengers are allergic to peanuts. Although we do not serve peanuts, we do serve other nut products and there may be trace elements of unspecified peanut ingredients, including peanut oils, in meal and snacks. We make no provisions to be peanut-free. Additionally, other customers may bring peanuts on board. Therefore, we cannot guarantee customers will not be exposed to peanuts during flight and strongly encourage customers to take all necessary medical precautions to prepare for the possibility of exposure.”

    I like peanuts. I’m sorry people are allergic to them. But that doesn’t mean I plan to give up eating them because someone around me MIGHT be allergic to them.

  • Regina

    This lawsuit is typical of what is going on in our society…another person who thinks the world revolves around her. I’m sure she was concerned about ther son’s anaphylactic reaction. I bet she’s even more concerned about how she’s gonna pay for college…oh wait! That’s where the lawsuit comes in!

  • Robb

    I agree that the peanut suit is silly. But I would not put the toilet suit in the same category. I think the victim was endangered and humiliated for no legitimate reason. I have never sued anybody in my life but I would sue over this.

  • Matthew B

    I think the peanut lawsuit is completely frivolous and I hope it gets dismissed with costs. The ruined vacation and the toilet seat flight seem to warrant some compensation, although millions of dollars is clearly way over the top. The lawyer and his family should get some damages for a ruined vacation, how much of course will be determined either by the courts or by settlement. JetBlue and its pilot should be prosecuted for endangering the life of a passenger. If the jump seat is not suitable for a six hour flight (and it probably isn’t) then JetBlue should have denied boarding to the guy with the buddy pass or the flight attendant, the FA should not have had the option to sit in a seat for six hours that is clearly intended only for take off an landing.

  • inothernews

    During a recent NWA flight that I was on, there was a young couple with a child who had a severe peanut allergy–even particles were a problem. When they booked the flight, they had been guaranteed a peanut-free flight. The flight attendant had to call all these officials to check if it was that they didn’t serve the peanut snacks in the for-sale snack boxes. Our entire plane said “look, we don’t want the peanuts, we want this kid alive, please take off now.”

    I guess we all take a risk going on something with circulated air, but as a human being, I’d rather do my best to care for my fellow passengers, especially this poor kid, rather than complacently eat peanuts, as if I deserve them more than his health!

  • http://www.deliciousbaby.com Debbie

    Reading the original article, two facts stand out for me:
    - The child had a life threatening allergy… for many kids, a peanut allergy isn’t something that would give them a runny nose, it is something that would put them in the hospital or kill them. Being stuck on an airplane in a life threatening situation compounds the risks even more.
    - The parents had been repeatedly promised a peanut free flight by the airline, and the plan changed after they boarded the flight

    In my son’s school, and in many schools across the country, some classrooms are peanut free. That means that every mom in the class forgoes sending PB&J so that a peanut-sensitive child can attend a regular school without unnecessary risk. Sure it’s extra work for me to plan something else, but I feel a moral responsibility as a member of the community not to put someone else’s child at risk.

    Of course no airline, hotel, restaurant or public place can guarantee that there won’t be traces of peanut on a tray table or seat, but many airlines can and do set up a peanut-free zone around an allergic child so that they can travel safely. Airlines can also serve alternative snacks to passengers.

    Peanut allergies are becoming more common, and I think the airlines are behind the times here. My guess is that the parents are suing not to line their own pockets, but to bring attention to an issue that requires change. Are we really saying that some kids should have to risk their lives to fly home to grandma’s house? Is a peanut snack so important that you’d be willing for some child to go into shock so that you could eat it (instead of, perhaps, some pretzels)

    Debbie
    http://www.deliciousbaby.com

  • RegularGuy

    I shake my head when people say a lawsuit is not about the money. A lawsuit is always about the money; If not the lining of one’s own pockets, then to punish someone else by making them pay money. It is sometimes justified, sometimes not, but it is always about the money.

    I’m gonna make you pay for pissing me off/inconveniencing me/killing grampa!!!

  • Carole

    This peanut lawsuit is typical of the current crop of American “victicrats” as Larry Elder calls them. I wrote my thesis on the contemporary culture of victimization in America, and that was in 1992. The title was “Land of the Free, Home of the Aggrieved.” We have devolved, as a culture, from the philosophy of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” to “life, liberty and the RIGHT to happiness,” even if you stretch that meaning to the purported right to a peanut-free world. Good luck on that one. My mother was literally deathly allergic to peanuts and almonds and managed to fly all over the world her entire life, never suffered from such ancillary exposure, but that was, of course, before victimization befell us. This litigant is a victicrat on so many odious levels, especially when the airline’s web site warned of possible peanut residue in their snacks. Yes, a shame her son had to be watched and monitored, that’s life as a mom, I can relate. Virtually all airlines serve peanuts or other nuts at some time and she, as a mother and a thinking adult, should have known better than to place her son in such an airplane. Don’t take the flight. Take the train, bus, car, fly another airline, make other arrangements. Life is messy and definitely not fair. What’s next — what’s next — a ban on wheat, gluten, milk products, egg products, the list can be infinite. Yep, it’s all about blame and the money.

  • Nashua

    As a peanut allergy sufferer, I can sympathize with the mother’s concern for her child. However, she should BUY A CLUE and do what the rest of us do–carry an epi-pen and advise those around us of the allergy. I was once on a flight to Australia when a young woman seated nearby pulled some peanuts out of her purse. I asked her NICELY to please not eat them around me because of my allergy. She smiled and put them away.

    See? I didn’t need a lawsuit. I just needed to TAKE RESPONSIBLITY FOR MYSELF. Apparently that’s a lost art in lawsuit happy USA.

    Another reason we need lawsuit caps and a loser pays system…

  • Ed Kummel

    I regularly bring nuts with me to munch on during a flight…Peanuts, cashews and macadamias…Nuts are a great compact source of protein to keep fro getting hungry from hours of sitting on a plane…
    If a kid has a peanut allergy, then it is the parent’s responsibility to protect that child…not mine, not the airline, not the flight attendants.
    The airline may say that it doesn’t serve any nuts on board, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to eat the peanuts I brought with me!
    If the child is that bad off with peanuts, then the parents need to choose some other method of travel where they have complete control of the environment…Don’t make me the bad guy for your child’s issues!
    Ed

  • KB

    Finally! Ed is exactly right!! For some reason, people seem inclined to attemt to pass on responsibility for their own safety, and actions, to others. If you have special needs… they are YOUR needs! Make accomodations accordingly. Some things are just not possible to police…. nor should they be.

  • Peanut Allergy Mom

    As a mom w/ a child that nearly died this week because he was exposed to peanuts, I highly suggest that you all educate yourselves on the topic. Until this week, I knew nothing about it. It is a life changing event for us, but I still want my child to be able to fly on vacations and have the same opportunities that everyone else does. You simply cannot drive everywhere. To think that the airlines/ passengers could make a simple concession to not have nuts on board seems very little to ask for the safety of passengers. I promise you, I will be joining the fight to ban nuts 100% from flights and will not stop until they are.

  • betty mcglynn

    could somebody let me know how to join the fight to ban peanuts from flights as children with an allergy deserve a holiday too

  • Carla Berkshire

    I would imagine that FAAN’s website or kidswithfoodallergies.org will have information on how to join the fight to protect not only children with food allergies, but adults with food allergies. The more support they have, the greater impact they can have on educating people about the increasing reality of food allergies.

    I believe that those people here who commented negatively on removing peanuts for airplanes are simply ignorant to the reality of food allergies and their growing impact on people’s lives. It is easy to say that “it’s not my problem” when it does not personally affect you.

    For those of you who are more concerned about eating your peanuts than about another human life, I think you need to do some soul searching. To you I say good luck and may God have mercy on your soul.

  • jane k

    Ed and KB, you are so right. For the person who suggested we educate ourselves on peanut allergies, I understand fully the consequences- I judt don’t care. It is not my problem that you “simply cannot drive anywhere.” I like peanuts, if I want to eat them on a plane I plan on doing so, happily and guilt free. And to the person who asked their fellow passenger not to eat nuts, it was nice that she put the nuts away for you, but I certainly wouldn’t do so!

  • J.L

    To Jane K,
    If someone you loved had a life threatening allergy, I would do everything in my power to make sure he or she is safe. And if not eating peanuts on a stupid flight will ensure someone’s safety it’s hardly a sacrifice! For you to be so nasty I can only imagine you are a fat slop who is always shoving donuts and junk food in your face. It would do you some good to read a book instead so you don’t sound like an uneducated slob.

  • IK

    I think its a disgusting and saddening sign of the way that human beings have so devalued society that asking someone to refrain from doing something that could potentially kill someone else for a couple of hours is met with responses of, “I just don’t care” and “Its not my problem”. Yes, we all wish we could do what we wanted all the time but as the parents of these spoiled, nasty people should have obviously taught them many years ago, sometimes you have to do what’s best for everyone. Yes, it is the parent’s responsibilty to make sure that potential hazards are kept away from a child with severe food allergies however, short of sticking the poor child in a plastic bubble and living on a farm in the middle of nowhere, there are going to be situations where others will have to be willing to put up with missing a few creature comforts to aid them. And if someone can tell me a mode of transportation where I have complete control over the enviroment, please let me know since last time I checked I couldn’t control air quality or gas stations and such.

  • http://www.deliciousbaby.com Debbie

    @IK i couldn’t agree more

    As a parent with small kids who do not have any allergies, I was shocked and disheartened to read the comments on this thread. I hadn’t considered this topic in any real depth before, and it helped me better understand what parents of kid with severe allergies face when they step out of the house (whether it is just to take the kids to the playground, or on a trip)

    I ended up writing an essay for my blog readers on why I care about this issue (and why they should too)
    http://www.deliciousbaby.com/journal/2008/jun/20/banned-flying-my-sons-favorite-lunch/

    I also did exhaustive research on how parents of children with severe food allergies can travel more safely and published an article that is being reviewed as the most complete resource online.
    http://www.deliciousbaby.com/journal/2008/jun/22/tips-and-advice-traveling-severe-allergies/

    I hope that some of the commenters on this thread will take a look and re-think their point of view.
    Debbie

  • Cathy

    This story saddens me, as does the response from half the people who chose to share their opinions. I have two young sons with severe peanut allergies, and every day is a challenge for us. Food is everywhere, and it is simply impossible to safeguard your children 100% of the time.

    A food allergy can be much more than an itchy throat or small rash. The throat can close and suffocate a child in minutes without the aid of an epinephrine pen. I have rushed my children to the ER on several occasions, simply because someone I trusted gave them a piece of “harmless” candy or a portion of a cookie. Other times, my children have had reactions to hidden contaminants I couldn’t see. I believe airlines—and passengers—can take responsibility for a couple hours to safeguard the lives of others. Airlines have managed to ban smoking on flights. Why is it so hard to serve snacks that are peanut-free? Sure, others may bring peanuts on a flight. But when the airline serves peanuts, the risk is far worse for those with allergies.

    I commend the parents who are suing American Airlines. I can assure you it isn’t about the money for these parents; it is about awareness. Unfortunately, they had to create an inconvenience for American Airlines. A death on the flight would have been much more inconvenient.

  • Nick

    Just want to put my 2 cents in on this discussion. My wife accidently took cookies that had some kid of peanut in it to my daughters school for a snack and a girl got sick. We don’t know if she ate it or just touched someone that did. Now the parents want us to pay for what their insurance didn’t pay. I feel we are some what responsible, but not fully responsible, since the mother waited over 2 hours after she found out about possible exposure to peanuts.

  • Jim

    I don’t know anyone allergic to peanuts and I, too, don’t care if you or your children are. However, given the distress caused to others by my consumption of peanuts in a closed compartment, it is a simple decision to not eat peanuts on a plane. The social calculus is not hard, folks.

    Really. Would anyone be offended if I started spraying Mace around haphazardly? Maybe I really enjoy doing so. Why should I care if it burns your eyes and causes you physical stress?

    I know, analogies are never really good arguments, but this one isn’t far from the mark with severe food allergies.

    Of course, mistakes can and do happen. No one can be expected to be clairvoyant, either. Those with peanut allergies on a flight should inform the airlines well before the flight (so pretzels instead of peanuts are loaded as snacks), the flight attendants during boarding (in case the wrong snacks are added and to inform the passengers who may have brought peanuts on board), and take medical precautions in case of accidental exposure (because stuff happens). Anything less is asking for trouble.

  • Carver Farrow

    I have to confess I never thought about the peanut allegery. It seems to me that all sides need to compromise. I think the airlines, knowing that tons of kids travel, should strive to avoid serving peanuts, given the prevalence of this particular allergy. If I were next to someone with a severe allergy, it seems to me that good manners and human decency would cause me to refrain from eating peanuts.

    I take strong exception to Jane K’s comments and I hope that she would really wouldn’t eat peanuts next to a kid with a severe peanut allergy. However, that being said, I think that J.L. attack was uncalled for and mean-spirited.

  • Karla Newton

    I have read all of the above chain, and I cannot understand how such a lack of compassion still exists in this day and age regarding potentially life-threatening allergies(yes, peanut allergy is kind of in its own class). Its not hard to take precautions and be your own best line of defense via educating people around you, but the kicker is the lack of basic human kindness and response when discussing airline policies and other passengers. If we as a society are unwilling to be kind to fellow passengers, upon learning of a SEVERE(not just based on some whimsical request) allergy that can be PREVENTED, then I am saddened beyond words. It means people really have a problem looking beyond their own little world and needs. Doesn’t anyone remember that the kindness you show to others comes back to you many times over? Peanut-free zones or peanut-free flights are a very simple and workable plan to help prevent dangerous situations from manifesting. I am a parent of a child with severe peanut allergy and we still travel by air, sometimes getting a kind response, and sometimes not, but we continue to take risks, hoping that by educating the general public and reminding others who are not kind about our requests that IT COULD BE THEM OR THEIR OWN LOVED ONE whether they care about our child or not.

  • Dee B.

    We are just recovering from the problems of taking a peanut allergic grandchild transatlantic to visit his father.

    In spite of telling the airline four weeks before and four days before flying the cabin staff knew nothing and peanuts were in the food served.

    There are some simple and inexpensive steps an airline can take to fulfil its duty of care that they must surely accept when told of a peanut allergic passenger.

    1) Establish a foolproof system for the information to reach all relevant departments and staff. They already have a worldwide IT system for booking and tracking of passengers and luggage so this should be easy
    2) Provide a nut free meal or snack to the passenger where food is a normal part of the service. Catering suppliers can batch freeze special meals and exclude prepacked ‘may contain’ articles and label the meal as a ‘Nut Free Meal’
    3) Inform all passengers by an announcement prior to serving snacks of the presence of a peanut allergic passenger on board and exclude peanut service in a zone they know to be safe for the passenger affected.
    4) Ensure medical response to anaphylactic shock is part of the standard crew training and include an adrenaline injection in the standard medical kit.

    Nut Allergic Passengers have a similar duty of care.

    1) Ensure they have informed the airline in sufficient time for them to respond.
    2) Always carry their injection in an easy accessible place and wear a meditag if travelling alone.
    3) Double check with the cabin crew on boarding.
    4) Explain to neighbouring passengers in a friendly and reasonable manner if they endanger your life. If they refuse ask the cabin crew to arrange a swap.
    5) Read the ingredient lists of packaged foods served on the airline – even the best systems are people operated.

    To all potential neighbouring passengers who believe that nut eating is a God given right and insist on eating them next to a sufferer I suggest they consider the following stupidly dangerous idea.

    1) What if they took a friend on a drive to place that is three hours from a hospital.
    2) What if they wrapped a belt round their own throat and asked the friend to tighten it ‘slowly’ over the period of five to ten minutes.
    3) If they were silly enough to do this when they can no longer breath they will then be experiencing the full anaphylactic shock suffered by highly peanut allergic passengers and if the friend were then to leave the belt tight until they are sufficiently unconscious so that when he released the belt he has between thirty minutes and two hours to get ‘the sufferer’ to hospital that will be similar to a nut allergic passenger using his adrenaline injection and then seeking essential medical aid when halfway into a transatlantic flight.

    Thank you to all who understand and are helping peanut allergic people to lead a normal and safe life. It need cost you nothing more than goodwill and common sense.

    The only justification for legal action is when there is wilful neglect and failure of duty of care that results in an anaphylaxis event. Then the airline and if there is an ignorant nut eating passenger should be in a civil court or if death results then the police must seriously consider charges of manslaughter against all parties involved.

  • Bunny Faber

    Wow. If someone announced my flight was to be peanut-free otherwise someone would suffer and/or die, I would just leave the peanuts in my bag. Ta da. I don’t expect to go through my whole life nut free, because I love them damn things, but I could manage even a trans-atlantic crossing nut-free. I’m not all that freaked out about my personal nut-eating rights and freedoms. And I’m not even really all that nice! And I could manage that.

  • JEH

    If you, your child, or your loved one are THAT allergic – drive!

  • Chris

    Yikes! I think a lot of people are barking up the wrong tree on this one.

    @ Regina: “This lawsuit is typical of what is going on in our society…another person who thinks the world revolves around her.”

    I think Regina hit it right on the nose here.

    The bottom line is what is a reasonable accomodation? I can’t think of a feasible way that the airline can GUARANTEE that a flight is completely peanut free. Passengers bring peanuts and other food types on the airplane all the time. There are patients who are so severely allergic to peanuts that a trace of peanut dust from days ago will cause them to go into anaphylaxis. Therefore, these patients simply just should not fly. Yes, it sucks, but thats life!

    I know these are a little extreme, but
    - Maybe we should black out the sun, because patients with xeroderma pigmentosa will become very ill when exposed to the sun
    - Maybe we should pave a wheelchair ramp to the top of Mt Everest, for everyone in a wheelchair who wants to “climb” Everest
    - Maybe the airline should rip out a row of seats to accomodate someone in a body cast

    The bottom line, airlines should take REASONABLE precautions. Guaranteeing that an airline is peanut dust free in my opinion is IMPOSSIBLE!

  • Unicorn

    You know, there just might be an opportunity here for someone to create an airline that can accomodate people with these severe food allergies. Extensive air filtering, peanut-free snacks/meals, severe limits on what kinds of food passengers can bring onboard… it can be done, if people are willing to pay for it.

    I would NEVER trust an airline in today’s environment to promise that a flight was peanut-free. You’re lucky if they can get you from point A to point B with your luggage reasonably on time, forget about feeding you or making sure what they do feed you doesn’t have any peanut products.

    It’s the old story: the rights of the group vs the rights of the individual.

  • http://tripso LYNNE SMITH

    I am a Grandmother of a 9 yr Grandson who has peanut allergies, all tree nuts actually. We take every precaution that we are capable of doing. We love our Grandson Bigger than the Moon, and the thought of what might happen to him because of this curse of allergies, is sooooo frightning ! It makes my blood boil to read what some of you have written on the matter. Have you no heart at all ? How selfish can you be to not be willing to sacrifice just a little by not eating the nuts you brought on a flight, even if someone right next to you ask you nicely not to, because it could kill them ! YOU JUST DON’T CARE ??? I garantee that if you had a loved one that had the same problem as my grandson and so many others, you would be singing a different tune. This world could surly use more people, like some that wrote, that care for there fellow human being !! I’ve seen stories about animals that take in and care for perfectly strange animals to there own species and nurse them and care for them. Wouldn’t it be nice if the human race could all have that same instinct.
    Yes, I am speaking to you Jane K.

  • Greg C

    Anyone who thinks the peanut lawsuit is silly is an idiot. The fact of the matter is that peanut allergies are rising in this country dramatically. Peanut free public transportation is not an unreasonable option. Does it honestly inconvience you that much to not eat peanuts for the duration of a flight, a train ride or a bus ride inorder to prevent killing someone. Peanuts kill people with these allergies pretty quickly, it is not like it takes months or years, it can be a few minutes. I can garuntee that if someone sparked a cigarette on a form public transportation everyone would be “singing a different tune.” The travel industry could even offer peanut free busses, planes and train cars at little expense and I would bet that the profit from these flights would not be effected too much. The fact of the matter is that in this day in age people have to travel. Whether it be for a job, getting home from school, seeing relatives, ect. Are people with these allergies supposed to stop living a normal life because people like peanuts? What about in schools? I can only assume that the same people that believe that these lawsuit are silly are against peanut free schools because of their child’s “right” to eat peanuts.

    This really seems like a stupid argument to me. If one can save another’s life by not eating a peanut, the soultion seems simple. Besides, how do you think someone going into anaphalitic shock (a life threatening condition btw) would effect your travel plans? Here’s how, the plane would have to make an emergency landing and that person would need to be brought to the hospital (Yes, this needs to happen quickly, even with benadryl and an epi-pen.). Your travel plans would be all messed up because you could not go the flight with out a peanut.

  • Liz

    Have you ever thought that you might be suied for not putting the peanuts away when you were told to by the airline? If you caused my child to die on a flight you better believe I would be coming after you for everything and that is if you make it off the flight alive!

  • RJ

    In this country, we’ve been going down a path of “individual rights trumping group rights” for a long time. At some point, everything you want to do will violate someone else’s “rights”. There will be no principle of “majority rule” anymore: it will be “minority rule”, and if you take that far enough you end up with anarchy, or no rule at all. There are two planes of discussion going on here: 1) the health of a poor defenseless child; and 2) the principle of a free society. Both need to be protected. The challenge is to arrive at some agreement in which both principles are protected. There are certainly many people with many different food allergies. I am allergic to shellfish, which has the same symptoms as a peanut allergy. Of course, I am an adult now, and I don’t feel empowered to prevent a restaurant from serving shellfish, just because of my allergy. Life needs to go on. I look at this as MY responsibility and no one else. If a child has an allergy, the parents are responsible to teach the child on what to do, in cooperation with his environment outside of the home. It is wrong to teach a child that he can expect to have control over others’ environment in order to not worry about the effects of his allergy. It is something HE needs to be taught about controlling what he does, otherwise, when he leaves home, he will not be able to cope with an unrelenting environment. I can guarantee you that, although you may be able to pressure a school system into compliance, there’s no way you’re going to be able to pressue the whole society into compliance. At some point, the allergic person IS going to be the ONLY person responsible. Period.

  • KW

    Hello,

    People have got to wake up and see what is really happening. Those that have a severe peanut allergy go into analphylatcic shock and may die when peanuts or peanut products are ingested. So do not be so selfish as to eat some thing that may cause someone else to die. Remember, 80% of all allergy deaths are from PEANUTS!

  • Miss_Lyss

    So what your saying that if someone you love for example your mom dad son daughter husband brother sister niece nephew best friend…. ECt….was allergic to peanuts and you politely ask people to not eat peanuts and someone as inconsiderate and selfish as you gave you the same answer as your giving to others you be ok with allowing them to put your loved ones life in danger because they wanna eat peanuts ? It’s not like your going to die without peanuts substitute it out for the short flight your on instead of endangering the lives of others.

  • Miss_Lyss

    Some people are so severely allergic that even the dust molecules are deadly. My mom is one of these severely allergic people and we carry epi pens on all 5of us and there was an old couple who opened the bag 4 aisles behind us and she went into anaphylaxis just because of the molecules so justbbecause you carry them doesn’t mean anything u can still die.

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