Frontier Airlines is facing a class-action lawsuit for alleged sexual assaults
Lief Cabraser and co-counsel filed a class-action lawsuit against Frontier Airlines on behalf of two women who claim the airline didn’t prevet, report or respond to the sexual assaults of passengers.
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who wants to be referred to as Jane Doe, claims that she was sexually assaulted by another passenger on a flight from Denver to Florida in 2018.
“This was a red-eye flight. She was asleep. She had the blanket over her, and the passenger next to her stuck his hand under the blanket into her private region,” her lawyer Pamela Maass said.
Doe said she called over a flight attendant, who didn’t report the incident to anyone else, and didn’t contact police.
The second plaintiff in the lawsuit, Lena Ramsay, alleges she was sexually assaulted on a Frontier flight from Denver to Rhode Island in 2018. She said the passenger sitting behind her groped her.
“I was so shocked, it took me a minute to say is this guy reaching around the seats and touching me the way that he is, and it wasn`t until I saw his hands come completely through that I jumped up, and I reported it immediately,” Ramsay said.
Ramsay said the flight attendant wouldn’t let her switch seats, didn’t report the allegations and didn’t contact the police.
“In both of these cases it was clear that either they weren’t following any policies and procedures, or they did not have any policies and procedures,” Mass said.
“Frontier’s disregard for the safety of its passengers is cruel and careless,” notes Lieff Cabraser partner Annika K. Martin, who brings the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs and the class. “Airlines are very powerful. Passengers are at the mercy of the airline. But with the airlines’ great power comes the legal responsibility to keep their passengers safe, including by protecting them from attacks by other passengers. Airlines must never put passengers at risk of being sexually assaulted by a fellow passenger on a flight.”
The lawsuit accuses Frontier Airlines of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and willful and wanton misconduct. It seeks compensatory and injunctive relief, demanding that Frontier establishes a policy that trains its staff members how to properly respond to sexual assault.