Widower sues airlines for wife's death
2013-01-29 18:06
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New York - A New York man whose wheelchair-bound,
morbidly obese wife died last year after she was denied a spot on three
different flights home from Europe has sued the airlines for $6m.
Vilma Soltesz, who at the time was reported to have
weighed 193kg, had an amputated leg and suffered from diabetes and kidney
disease, news media said.
She was found dead at her vacation home in Hungary in
October after several aircraft crews repeatedly failed to accommodate her size
despite telling her they could do so, according to a lawsuit filed in federal
court in Manhattan.
The lawsuit accused the three airlines of wrongful death
and gross negligence.
The couple left their Bronx home in September on a Delta
Air Lines plane, securing two seats for Vilma and one for her husband Janos,
and arrived safely in Budapest on a vacation, according to the lawsuit.
By 2 October, Vilma Soltesz sought treatment at a
hospital in Hungary when she fell ill. She was released and told she could fly
home but to see her doctor immediately upon her arrival, according to the
lawsuit.
The pair tried to leave Budapest two weeks later on a KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines flight, with accommodations similar to what they received
on their flight from the US, according to the suit.
But a captain told them to disembark after Vilma Soltesz
struggled to manoeuvre from her wheelchair into her assigned seats, the lawsuit
says.
After waiting in a Budapest airport for more than five
hours, the couple drove to Prague to catch a Delta flight they were assured
could accommodate them. But Delta did not have an adequate wheelchair to
transport Vilma Soltesz to her seat, the suit added.
"The Delta flight co-ordinator told Janos and Vilma
that Delta 'did not have access to a skylift' to get Vilma onto the aircraft
from the rear, and that there was nothing more Delta could do for them,"
the lawsuit stated.
Later, on 22 October, as several medics and fire-fighters
helped her board a Lufthansa flight, the captain told the couple they had to
disembark because "other passengers need to catch a connecting flight and
cannot be delayed further," the lawsuit says.
"Exhausted and feeling ill," Vilma Soltesz went
to bed after the couple drove back to their vacation home in Veszprem, Hungary,
the lawsuit says.
On 24 October, Janos found her dead.
A Delta Air Lines spokesperson said the airline had not
been served with the lawsuit.
Officials with Royal Dutch Airlines and Lufthansa did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
An attorney for Soltesz did not immediately return a call
seeking comment.
