Vermont & New Hampshire Injury Blog

Questionable Claims Make It Harder For Serious Personal Injury Cases

Here’s one for the books. It appears that a California woman is suing Southwest Airlines over a dispute concerning the use of her cell phone. Any of us who travel by air know the rules. There comes a time when you’re sitting on the plane right before take-off that you must turn off your cell phone. I just assumed it was some kind of safety measure and never had a problem turning the thing off when they asked me to and turning it back on when they said it was ok. Well, I guess it wasn’t ok for Norma Stiener and she wound up getting arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused to turn off her phone when asked by the flight attendant.

Now, here’s the kicker Norma Stiener is suing Southwest Airlines for false imprisonment and asking for 2 million dollars in damages. I don’t know any details of the case, but it seems to me that if the airline wants you to turn off your cell phone for safety reasons and you refuse, then maybe you should face the consequences. Not only am I amazed that she is suing for 2 million dollars, I am amazed that a lawyer even took this case. To learn more about it, see the article in USA Today . The details may tell a different story, but  in my opinion, on its face it looks like one of those law suits that give lawyers and the legal system a bad name. This makes it only harder for my firm to serve the interests of seriously injured personal injury victims. Ed Van Dorn