Family Sues American Airlines After Man Eats International Flight Meal and Dies
A 73-year-old Florida man contacted food poisoning and died shortly eating an in-flight meal on American Airlines, according to his family, and they recently filed a lawsuit against the carrier in the U.S. District Court in Miami.
Othon Cortes was flying from Barcelona to New York when he ate a chicken meal that allegedly was contaminated with the dangerous bacteria Clostridium pefingens, the International Business Times reports. Cortes and his wife had a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and according to her Cortes was extremely sick while waiting for their connecting flight to Miami. According to CNN.com, Cortes got worse on the flight home, and the airplane made an emergency landing in Virginia after Cortes experienced a cardiac event. Cortes was pronounced dead when the flight landed.
American Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, declined to comment on the Miami lawsuit, CNN.com reports. LSG Sky Chefs, a German airline meal production company that was also named as a defendant, told the news agency that they intend to file a motion to dismiss the case.
