A Delta passenger recently filed a personal injury lawsuit against the airline and another passenger whose emotional support animal allegedly attacked him.

Plaintiff Marlin J. was reportedly flying from Atlanta to San Diego in June 2017 when the animal attack incident occurred. Marlin was reportedly sitting in a window seat next to Marine Corp service member Ronald M. who allegedly brought his emotional support animal on the flight with him.

Accoriding to Wikipedia, an emotional support animal (ESA) is any companion animal that benefits a person with a mental health or emotional disorder. These animals need to be certified as necessary by a medical professional but are different from service animals which are trained to perform specific tasks. Emotional support animals are given housing and traveling rights under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Under the ADA, emotional support animals are allowed on flights – meaning that Ronald’s dog was allowed to board with him. While Marlin was securing his seatbelt for the flight, the “chocolate lab pointer mix” which was seated on Ronald’s lap reportedly started to growl at Marlin; it then proceeded to bite him on the face multiple times.

The dog was allegedly so large that it “encroached into the aisle seat and window seat”.

Dog Attack Injuries

According to Marlin, “the attack was briefly interrupted when the animal was pulled away from [Marlin]. However, the animal broke free and again mauled [Marlin’s] face.” Due to attack, Marlin allegedly “bled so profusely that the entire row of seats had to be removed from the airplane.”

Marlin allegedly suffered from lacerations and punctures to his face and upper body. He reportedly required 28 stitches for his wounds and now suffers from permanent injury and loss of sensation to parts of his face.

Marlin argues that “his entire lifestyle has been severely impaired by this attack”, and claims that Delta violated standard protocol for pets on planes by allowing the large dog onto the plane without a kennel. He is now suing for personal injuries.

“The harm of large, untrained and unrestrained animals in the cabin of an airplane was reasonably foreseeable to Delta, or should have been,” Marlin claims in his personal injury lawsuit. He also adds that Delta “knew or should have known that subjecting passengers and animals to close physical interaction in the confined, cramped and anxious quarters of the cabin, presented a reasonably foreseeable harm.”

Additionally, Marlin argues that the dog was not a verified emotional support dog. He claims that a certified emotional support dog would have been better trained and would not have attacked him.

Rules for Support Animals

According to Delta’s website, passengers are “encouraged” to upload ESA documentation 48 hours before the flight. Additionally, dogs are expected “to be seated in the floor space below a passenger’s seat or seated in a passenger’s lap” and are not allowed to exceed the “footprint” of the passenger’s seat. Prohibited support animal behaviors include: growling, jumping on passengers, and other behaviors that would be disruptive to the passengers and crew of the plane.

In addition to holding Delta Airlines responsible, Marlin also seeks compensation from fellow passenger and dog owner Ronald, claiming that the man, like Delta, “knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known that his large animal was foreseeably dangerous, especially when confined to the cramped and anxious quarters of the passenger cabin of an airplane.”

In total, the personal injury lawsuit seeks compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages, loss of earning potential, medical expenses, emotional pain and suffering, and mental anguish.

Corporations and businesses have an obligation for the safety of their clients and locations, and can be held responsible for injury. If you sustained personal injury in an accident at no fault of your own, an accident attorney can help you with the questions and challenges of filing a lawsuit.