Facts

John Evans Arek was a passenger on an American Airlines Flight #OH531 on August 4, 2021, from Dulles International Airport in Virgina, bound for Los Angeles International Airport in California, with a layover in Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. PSA Airlines operated the flight on American Airlines' behalf. When the plane landed in Charlotte, Arek felt an impact and injured his back, causing him to limp off of the flight. The hinge on his laptop, which was stowed under his seat, was also chipped during the landing. Based on his reports of back pain, the treating physician proscribed Arek cyclobenzaprine and recommended he treat his back with ice, heat, and certain exercises periodically. Upon returning to California, Arek was proscribed methocarbamol to ease his pain, which Arek reported was sometimes ineffective. There was no report of a hard landing, which is defined as those in which an aircraft's rate of descent at touchdown exceeds 600 feet per minute, from the flight crew of Flight #OH531. The National Transportation Safety Board also received no notification for a hard landing from #OH531. Arek brought a lawsuit against American Airlines under the Federal Aviation Act for the injuries he suffered from the landing.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff alleged that defendant was negligent in causing the injuries he sustained when Flight #OH531 landed, which required medication and a treating physician.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant argued that plaintiff's claim failed because no evidence was shown that they acted recklessly or carelessly in a manner that endangered another's safety or property under the applicable standard of care for airplane personal injuries. Indeed, defendant alleged that the only evidence in the record material to the issue of its standard of care was a declaration from PSA's Vice President of Safety and Security stating that no "hard landing" of Flight #OH531 occurred and no other passengers reported any bodily injury on the flight.

Result

The court entered summary judgment for defendant because the only evidence presented tended to show that defendant did not breach its standard of care.