Originally Posted by
bhrubin
Yes, morbid obesity and obesity in general has been considered recently to be covered by the ADA in the USA.
The ADA is irrelevant for air transport of passengers, it only applies to the employees of said airlines.
European law is even more liberal than that of the USA
Europe is very liberal when it comes to the burden of cost, not at all when it comes to liability. Europe has neither punitive damages, nor class action, and an action must have caused the harm
immediately. Not flying did not kill her that would be the end of the liability aspect in Europe.
But her breaking a seat and burring another passenger would very much be an actionable item.
..The fact is that the airlines bear responsibility for her death to some degree because they tried and could not deliver on their contract..
She was more than 270lb hence she did not buy the ticket as per contract. At least not for the EU carriers.
Then Lufthansa did the same thing. One is left to wonder why the specific FAs and pilots on DL and LH were so quick to dump the woman from her flight..
Because they hate females, redheads, fat Americans, people who can't speak Dutch or German? What flavour of racism did you see in the fact that the white, heterosexual, non-fat crews of both European and American carriers could not fit her in her row?
The fact is the airlines likely KNEW at worst that their staffs made some bad choices, some of which might have been illegal, and KNEW at best that it would look bad for them and they might be considered even MORE liable had it gone to trial. So they settled.
That is a stretch beyond all reason. They probably haggled the husband down to 1500$ in vouchers plus $5000 for his legal council which all was much cheaper than tying up their lawyers for 2 days in court.
Originally Posted by
bhrubin
..Her refusal to take treatment in Hungary is not an issue whatsoever in this case. People are entitled to seek treatment in their home countries, and not doing so isn't actionable!...
That is why the husband is not in jail.
Not seeking treatment may have had however very real consequences in the actual physical world.