Plaintiff, a 27-year old Army Private, First Class, was driving alone in a 2002 Toyota Camry. Defendant, 34 years old, was also alone and was driving a 2001 GMC Sierra pick-up truck. The accident occurred in a residential area on base. The police report indicates the accident occurred as the defendant turned left in front of plaintiff’s oncoming vehicle. The front of the defendant’s truck struck and drove over the front end of plaintiff’s vehicle.

Plaintiff claimed injury to his upper back, which was still painful at time of trial, for which he was still receiving treatment. Plaintiff claimed that the injury caused him to be discharged from the Army nine months after the accident. Plaintiff had re-enlisted in the Army before the accident and wanted to make a career out of the Army until he would retire 25 years after the accident.

Plaintiff claimed past loss of earnings of $43,227 and $422,664 in future loss of earnings.

Plaintiff’s pre-trial demand was $250,000; defendant offered $15,000.

Plaintiff asked the jury for $669,091. After deliberating one hour and fifteen minutes, the jury awarded plaintiff a total of $1,288 in a unanimous decision.

Superior Court for the State of California, County of Los Angeles | Judge Robert T. Altman

Plaintiff alleged that the pilot was not justified in restraining her. She denied any outrageous behavior, the use of profanity or the making of threats on the aircraft. Plaintiff further alleged that the captain punched her in the stomach and kicked her in the back and that she was also restrained with her own dog leash in an inhumane and humiliating fashion.  

Defendants argued that plaintiff refused to keep the dog kenneled despite numerous requests by the flight attendants. Defendants contended that plaintiff became increasingly belligerent to the point where she was screaming profanities and that she was reportedly "out of control." Coincidentally, the passengers in the first-class cabin were actors from the movie "Clueless" who were flying out to Los Angeles to promote the film. Numerous passengers testified that plaintiff was screaming expletives, and threats. In the urgency of the situation, the captain was unable to find the flex cuffs and instead used the dog leash because it was of soft leather material and less likely to cause injury.  

The trial was bifurcated on liability. The case attracted national media attention and was covered by CBS, NBC and ABC, together with the Los Angeles Times. The case was also watched closely by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the commercial airline industry as an example of the recent phenomenon of "Air Rage"/passenger misconduct and the newly-enacted zero tolerance standard.  

According to defendant, plaintiff claimed post-traumatic stress disorder; fibromyalgia, cervical disk herniation at C4-C5; graphic bruises around neck, shoulders and upper torso depicted in photographs; psychotherapy treatment; treatment with internist.  

Plaintiff’s claimed damages were approximately $200,000. After a seven day jury trial, the jury deliberated for three and half hours and returned a 9-3 defense verdict.  

United States District Court  |  Judge A. Andrew Hauk 

Plaintiff, a 61-year-old educator, was a passenger on a flight from Ontario, California, through Dallas/Fort Worth to Washington National Airport. Following the 757 Boeing taxi to the gate an unidentified passenger opened the overhead bin and a heavy, metal Samsonite briefcase fell on plaintiff causing injury to her head, neck and left shoulder.  

Plaintiff claimed the aircraft experienced a very rough landing. Contention was that all flights (including all other domestic United States airline carriers) should retrofit the overhead bins of the aircraft with a netting device to prevent falling objects. Plaintiff’s counsel introduced into evidence a videotape from an English company illustrating a netting device as a secondary safety restraint currently employed by British Airways. The device has been in production and can be installed on an economic basis. Plaintiff’s liability expert testified the verbal warning provided by the flight attendants concerning the shifting of overhead bin items during flight was inadequate.  

Defendant argued on a statistical basis, there are on an average 80 reported overhead bin claims per 80,000,000 yearly passengers. The percentage of one injury per million passengers represents a minimal risk. The overhead bins on the Boeing 757 aircraft satisfied all existing Federal Aviation Administration standards and retrofitting with a mesh device was on an experimental basis, and had not received customer acceptance. The netting device would not prevent those accidents, which have been traced to passenger responsibility. No other domestic airlines to date has adopted the use of the netting device. The flight attendant passenger announcement about shifting articles in overhead bins was adequate.

Plaintiff’s demand was $350,000. Defendants offered $35,000. After a seven-day jury trial, the jury deliberated for one and a half days and returned an 11-0 defense verdict.

Plaintiff was a Motion Picture Academy award winner screenwriter. She won an Oscar for writing the movie "Coming Home" Her other screenwriting credits included "Slap Shot" and the screen adaptation of "North Dallas Forty."

Plaintiff was a "Platinum" member of American Airlines. She owned an estate on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia where she did her writing. Plaintiff alleged that she was verbally abused by the airline employees on St. Lucia. She alleged that the airline attempted to have her falsely arrested at her home and later contacted the local government authorities to have her alien property license revoked. Plaintiff also obtained internal reports of the airlines wherein employees accused plaintiff of making racial slurs against them. Plaintiff denied making these remarks and maintained the information was slanderous.

Defendant airline denied all of plaintiff’s allegations. Defendant maintained plaintiff was constantly verbally abusive to the agents and did make racially insensitive remarks. Defendant admitted calling the police to investigate an incident at plaintiff’s home wherein plaintiff was allegedly holding one of its contract baggage delivery drivers hostage by releasing her two German Shepherds into the yard. The baggage driver testified at time of trial that he was never held hostage and that he was ultimately fired because of his refusal to write an incident report. Defendant introduced evidence suggesting the driver had been paid off.  

Defendant contended that the incidents which plaintiff complained of did not constitute extreme and outrageous conduct and could not have realistically resulted in severe emotional distress.  

Plaintiff had undergone two years of psychotherapy and alleged she had been unable to work/write screenplays as a result of the harassment. Plaintiff’s going rate was $875,000 per screenplay and she alleged the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of the incidents.  

Plaintiff’s demand before the trial was $2,000,000. Defendant’s offer before trial was $25,000. After an eight-day trial, the jury deliberated for one and a half hours and returned with a 12-0 defense verdict. 

Plaintiff, a 38-year-old banquet waitress, was employed by defendant hotel for 16 years. She claimed that she was sexually harassed by her immediate supervisor, banquet captain. The acts of sexual harassment included offensive language of a sexual nature, sexual advances, the use of phallic symbols for simulated masturbation and ejaculation, and physical/sexual touching. Plaintiff called defendant’s corporate ombudsman to report further instances of sexual harassment. In response, the hotel conducted an investigation that revealed eight other banquet waitresses had also been sexually harassed by the same banquet captain.

Plaintiff claimed that foul language and inappropriate sexual behavior was persuasive throughout defendant’s banquet department. Earlier reports to hotel management were ignored. Three other waitresses gave graphic accounts of sexual harassment.

Defendant argued that once it was placed on formal notice of the complaint, an investigation confirmed that the banquet manager was guilty of sexual harassment. The defendant had no prior knowledge of any inappropriate behavior by him other than his use of foul language. In response to the first report of foul language, he was reprimanded. In response to the second report of inappropriate behavior, he was terminated.

Plaintiff claimed that she suffered from emotional distress, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, heart palpitations, hair loss, and weight loss, requiring extended psychotherapy. Plaintiff’s demand was $200,000. Defendant’s offer was $60,000.

After a six-day trial, the jury deliberated for four hours and returned with a verdict of 9-3 liability, and 10-2 damages. Plaintiff was awarded $68,910.