United Airlines is facing a lawsuit after two parents claimed their child was seriously injured on a flight due to faulty equipment provided by employees.
On February 7, Michal Fefferman and her husband Ben Fefferman filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for Northern Illinois.
In documents obtained by PEOPLE, the family said their child, identified only as OF, was traveling with them on a United Airlines flight from their home country of Israel to Newark when the July 2022 incident occurred.
a picture of a flight attendant on a plane.
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The Feffermans say the airline provided their daughter with a meal during the flight, however, the tray table broke, causing the hot food to slide off the surface and severely burn the then-6-year-old to the point where she was left “disfigured.”
Her parents are asking for $75,000.
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According to their general statements, United Airlines “was responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft” at the time OF received the “hot meal tray”.
“Although the meal tray was supposed to have a flat surface so that food and/or drinks like the meal tray at issue could be safely placed on it, this tray table was defective, slanting downwards towards the seat where the OF sat,” the lawsuit claims. states.
“As a result of a faulty tray table, OF’s meal slipped and landed on her lap.”
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picture of food on the plane.
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The lawsuit adds that the “unreasonably hot” food caused “severe suffering to the child.”[e] burn injuries.”
PEOPLE reached out to United Airlines for a statement, but a company representative said, “We cannot comment on pending litigation.”
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Ben says that after his daughter suffered burns, he requested emergency medical treatment for the child from the ship’s crew. Unfortunately, the flight attendants “were unable to provide adequate care, in part because United did not equip the aircraft used for the flight with reasonable medical supplies to treat burn injuries.”
As a result, the child, who was “now scarred and disfigured,” “suffered in extreme discomfort for the remainder of the 12-hour flight.”
The Feffermans say United’s duty was to “exercise reasonable care during the flight, including providing passengers with food, access to safe and/or sturdy tray tables, maintenance of tray tables, access to medical equipment and/or care for reasonably foreseeable damages and/or or to alert passengers to faulty equipment such as tray tables.”
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a picture of a flight attendant on a plane.
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The court filing states that the airline breached its obligations.
Due to United’s alleged negligence, “OF has been seriously injured and seeks past and future non-economic damages for her injuries, burns, disfigurement, scarring, discoloration, neurological deficits, impairment, pain, suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, inconvenience, humiliation, embarrassment and loss of ability to enjoy her life, which she has experienced in the past and/or will experience in the future.”
The $75,000 in compensatory damages will also go toward reasonable and necessary medical care and treatment for the Feffermans’ daughters.
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