Disabled Army Veteran Wins $1.3 Million Verdict Against Delta Air Lines for Back Injury

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 5, 2023 (Newswire.com) - A disabled Army veteran won a $1.3 Million verdict in federal court in San Jose this week, for a back injury she suffered when a Delta flight attendant refused to place her roller bag suitcase into the overhead storage bin for her. Rena Soverns, a 67-year-old grandmother who volunteered for the Army during the Vietnam War and was rendered disabled by injuries sustained during her service, testified that she boarded a Delta flight in Fargo, North Dakota on July 6, 2019, and requested help from a nearby flight attendant because her disability prevented her from lifting her 19-pound suitcase into the overhead bin. According to her testimony, the female flight attendant responded that she "didn't have to do that." Federal law and Delta's own policies require flight attendants to assist passengers with stowage of hand luggage when they identify as disabled. Soverns said she told the flight attendant again that she was unable to lift objects to such a height, adding that the flight attendant told her to try anyway, and said she would assist in the effort. Soverns testified that she lifted the suitcase as high as she was able to, expecting the flight attendant to lift it the rest of the way into the bin, but the flight attendant then inexplicably removed her hand from the suitcase, and the bag fell down onto Soverns' chest, knocking her backwards into an adjacent seat back. The blow injured her lumbar spine, which has given her daily back pain ever since.

Soverns' attorney, John McKay of Park Avenue Law in San Francisco, said, "She's a resilient and kind lady who served our country, and she didn't need to be treated like that. She fully deserves the verdict she obtained." McKay is a pilot and lawyer who devotes his practice to airline and aviation-related matters. 

McKay is the founder and principal attorney of Park Avenue Law. He served as lead counsel for Soverns in the case. The case is Rena Kay Soverns v. Delta Air Lines Inc., case number 20-cv-06258-BLF, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California presided over the trial.

About Park Avenue Law

Park Avenue Law focuses on serious injury and wrongful death litigation, primarily relating to aviation. We have been on the front lines litigating airline and private aircraft passenger claims for decades, and have the skills and knowledge necessary to litigate such claims successfully. As a pilot-owned law firm with substantial prior defense and aviation insurance experience, Park Avenue Law stands alone among plaintiffs' firms in the aviation law sphere. For more information, please visit https://flightadvocate.com.

Contact: John D. McKay, Esquire, (434) 531-9569; [email protected]

Source: Park Avenue Law LLC