A Sonoma County lady is suing American Airways, claiming workers blamed her after she was groped on a redeye flight from San Francisco Worldwide Airport, and that the airline didn’t cease a “known sexual predator” from abusing one other lady later.
Barbara Morgan of Windsor was sitting within the center seat in economic system class in April 2024 on a flight from SFO to Dallas-Fort Price, her lawsuit filed Thursday in San Francisco U.S. District Courtroom stated.
Shortly after the lights within the cabin dimmed, the person subsequent to her within the window seat began rubbing his arm towards her facet in what she believed was an try to the touch her breasts, her lawsuit claimed. She shifted away, however the man was “undeterred,” and put his hand on her higher thigh then fondled her genitals, the lawsuit alleged.
Morgan yelled, “Stop!” twice, however no airline workers responded, the lawsuit stated. Most different passengers had been sleeping or carrying headphones, and nobody appeared to have seen her plight, the lawsuit stated. Flight crew members didn’t cross by, and he or she feared “escalating the situation” by reporting the alleged incident, the lawsuit stated. She feared retaliation from the person, and “endured severe emotional distress for the remainder of the flight, trapped beside her assailant as she waited for the plane to land,” the lawsuit claimed.
Upon arrival, Morgan instantly went to an American Airways gate agent to report the alleged abuse, and identified the purported groper, Cherian Abraham, who can be named as a defendant within the lawsuit.
Abraham couldn’t be reached for remark. His lawyer in a felony case associated to a separate alleged airplane incident declined to touch upon the lawsuit or the felony indictment. American Airways didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The gate agent “engaged in victim blaming,” asking Morgan why she had not taken additional motion to report the alleged incident in the course of the flight. Morgan defined her considerations, however the agent “told her there was nothing they could do,” didn’t contact legislation enforcement, and informed her to file a web based criticism with the airline.
Her criticism the subsequent day drew an automatic response promising follow-up, however after she heard nothing for 5 days she despatched an in depth account of the alleged assault to 3 American Airways officers, together with CEO Robert Isom, the lawsuit stated.
Just below a yr later, Abraham, 54, of Texas was arrested in reference to one other alleged groping incident on an American Airways airplane. In keeping with an indictment in federal courtroom in Seattle, he’s accused of fondling the breast of a 22-year-old lady whereas he sat by the window and he or she sat within the center seat on flight from Chicago to Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport on March 18 of this yr. The girl, not named within the March 21 indictment, reported the alleged incident to flight workers and was moved to a distinct seat. Abraham was arrested March 23, and has pleaded not responsible to a felony cost of abusive sexual contact.
The alleged incident on the Chicago-to-SeaTac flight may have been prevented if American had taken motion on Morgan’s report, her lawsuit claimed.
Morgan additional alleged that when Abraham groped her, American knew he had been accused earlier of inappropriately touching a feminine passenger, on a flight in October 2023. Morgan’s lawsuit alleged that the 2023 incident, referenced within the U.S. Division of Justice’s announcement about Abraham’s indictment, involved an American Airways flight, however the announcement and courtroom paperwork don’t seem to call the airline the place the alleged incident occurred.
The lawsuit refers to 2 different lawsuits towards American by girls who alleged the airline failed to forestall them from being sexually abused. Neel Elsherif claimed a drunk man subsequent to her on a Could 2024 flight from New York to Milan masturbated for an hour, and when she reported it to a flight attendant, she was informed, “men just do stuff like that.” The airline has denied Elsherif’s claims, courtroom information present. That case continues in federal courtroom in New York. American in January settled a lawsuit by a girl named Aubrey Lane who claimed she was sexually assaulted in a rest room on a redeye from Phoenix to New York in 2017 by a person who had come on board intoxicated and was served extra alcohol by airline workers. The phrases of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
Morgan’s lawsuit accuses American of negligence and accuses Abraham of sexual battery. She is in search of unspecified damages.
Abraham’s trial within the felony case is scheduled to start out Aug. 4.
