Delta to Pay $750K for Wrongful Drug Bust
Lauren Englisbe December 11, 2015
Delta Airlines ordered to pay damages to a man who unknowingly smuggled drugs after a baggage handler planted them in his suitcase.
Delta Airlines has been ordered to pay $759,000 in damages to a security guard accused of smuggling cocaine in his suitcase, The Daily News reported yesterday. A Brooklyn jury found Delta liable, corroborating defendant Roger Levans’ account that a baggage handler tampered with his luggage.
Customs officials questioned Levans at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in December 2010. Per The New York Post, the accused was traveling home to New York from Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO) in Guyana, and told agents that his bags contained “cooked rabbit and fish.” Upon inspection, the agents found three bricks of cocaine alongside the food, and Levans was arrested at the scene. He spent one day in jail and was subsequently fired from his job at Yankee Stadium.
Levans contested that his bag was locked when he left GEO, but by the time he arrived in New York, the lock was gone. While in Delta’s care a small ribbon was tied to the suitcase, apparently so it could be recognized by the handler’s accomplice.
Three months later investigators confirmed that Levans’ luggage had been compromised and dropped the charges; however, the damage had already been done. Citing court documents, The New York Post also reported, “While the charges had been dropped, Plaintiff has been unable to reemploy with Guardsmark [the security firm at Yankee Stadium] despite his best efforts … he has also been ostracized in his community.”
The jury at the Brooklyn Federal Court deliberated only two hours before coming to a verdict. Outside the courthouse, Levans said, “I’m elated! This is wonderful for me after all of this time. I’m very happy.”
Delta lawyer Michael Crowley stated that the airline plans to appeal the verdict.
[Photo: Dennis Clark]
Delta baggage handlers at JFK stole a nice necklace from my sister's carry-on after she unthinkingly gate-checked it, and of course they sailed on that one. So this surprises me not at all, and I'm glad to see them not skate, for once.
Delta managed to have a system in place that wrecked this man's life. Delta should pay that which the jury ordered-and fix its system so this never happens to anyone else in the future. Nobody is in a position to contest what the jury did because apart from the jury, the lawyers, and the judge...nobody knows what evidence was shown to the jury. I guarantee if the judge thought it was inappropriate, the judge would throw out the verdict, or reduce it on a motion to him/her. This is why America is the greatest country of all time. Where else can a working man to up against a huge company and have their day in Court. Pay the man Delta! And then give him free airfare for him and his family for a year. It's time Delta showed some humanity....