Court refuses to quash lawsuit.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: An Australian man has sued Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad after claiming he injured his back sitting next to an obese man.
James Andres Bassos told a Brisbane court in a statement that he was forced to contort his body for long periods on a 2011 flight from Sydney to Dubai, the Associated Press reported.
Bassos’s district court claim states the “grossly overweight†passenger was spilling into his seat, coughing frequently and had fluid coming from his mouth.
According to his account of the trip, he asked to be moved after five hours but was refused a different seat by the airline’s flight staff. After complaining again half-an-hour later, Bassos was moved to a crew seat.
However, he was later forced to return to his original seat next to the man for another hour, and again for the final 90 minutes of the flight for security reasons, according to court documents.
Bassos is claiming damages to compensate for personal injury, alleging that being forced to twist his body to avoid contact with the other passenger gave him a back injury and exacerbated a pre-existing back condition.
Etihad tried to have the case dismissed on the grounds that it is not unusual to be seated next to an obese or coughing passenger, but Brisbane district judge Fleur Kingham refused to throw out the claim on Wednesday, saying she wasn’t convinced Bassos had no chance of winning, and ordered bassos to undergo a medical examination in December in preparation for the trial.
“Etihad Airways will continue to oppose the action and now that Mr. Bassos will finally face a medical assessment in December 2015, as directed by court, we believe that the matter will proceed to an early conclusion,” the international airline released in a statement, according to CNN.