Federal Aviation Accident Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Turkish Airlines Passenger Burn Victim

Aviation accident lawyers Bohrer & Lukeman have filed a personal injury lawsuit against Turkish Airlines in a Virginia federal court on behalf of an international airline passenger who suffered severe burns during a 2021 Turkish Airlines Flight from Istanbul Turkey to Washington Dulles International Airport, Sterling, Virginia (IAD). The young female burn victim, a Virginia resident, was seated aboard a Boeing 777 jetliner when the flight attendant accidentally dropped a scalding hot beverage onto her lap and inner thigh area.

The victim screamed in agony as the searing hot liquid scorched her legs and thighs. Her severe burns required immediate emergency medical attention, however, the aircraft continued with its course, depriving her of proper medical treatment until the jumbo jet landed hours later. As a result, the victim suffered permanent scarring to her inner thigh, has undergone medical treatment and lives with physical and mental anguish that will deprive her of her enjoyment of life.

Bohrer & Lukeman’s complaint and lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention governing international air travel, seeks unspecified damages for our client’s past and future medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, mental trauma and loss of enjoyment of life. The Montreal Convention is an international treaty with a two tier liability scheme which determines the standards and regulations for air carrier liability for passenger injuries which occur during international flights. It states, “the carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger upon condition only that the accident which caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking.” In other words, commercial airlines may be responsible if a passenger is injured not only during the flight, but for injuries suffered in the airport terminal, on the tarmac, while climbing portable airstairs or riding on tarmac transfer buses so long as their activity is considered to be a part of the aircraft’s boarding or disembarking process.

Under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, the airline is virtually strictly liable to the passenger for up to approximately $175,000. The carrier must them prove that neither it nor one of its agents were negligent in causing the accident. If it is unable to prove that, there is no limit to its liability.

Our airline accident lawyers have litigated countless airline burn cases and use our experience and knowledge to fight for and get you the financial recovery you deserve. When we file an airline burn case caused by flight attendant or other airline employee negligence, we leave no stone unturned to ensure that you, our client, attains maximum monetary damages for all of the harm you have suffered. We work with the best air cabin safety experts to prove airline liability in favor of our clients.  

 This is not the first time that our airline accident lawyers have litigated a burn injury against a major international airline.  We have extensive experience representing victims burned during the course of international and domestic commercial aviation flights. Abe Bohrer, the firm’s founder, has successfully litigated many such cases, including:

– Jetblue flight, where a scalding beverage slid from an unlevel tray and burned a passenger;

– United Airlines Expressjet flight in which an infant was the victim of a hot beverage burn;

– Aer Lingus flight, where a child received severe burns due to flight attendant negligence;

– Egypt Air flight, where a hot beverage caused severe burns to a young female passenger;

– Lufthansa German Airlines flight, where a passenger suffered trunk and torso burns;

– American Airlines flight, severe burns to young female passenger

When asked about this newest Turkish Airlines accident and injury, Airways, Abe had this to say: “It is infuriating that, yet another airplane accident could have been avoided if the airlines practiced better cabin safety and followed their own rules. We discovered rules that state an airline should never serve hot beverages to minors or to adults traveling with minors on their laps or immediately adjacent. This is yet another pattern of unfollowed rules pertaining to the service of hot beverages aboard airplanes. We take issue with the nature, extent and quality of training and methods of hot beverage service, the temperature of the beverages, absence of lids on cups, as well as the level of skill and training that cabin crew members had administering first aid treatment in the event of a passenger burn. Indeed, our attorneys concluded that its flight attendants were careless in causing these burns, and then further poorly equipped to recognize and treat the seriousness of the burns after they occurred in flight.”

The aviation accident attorneys at Bohrer & Lukeman will continue to investigate and litigate this Turkish Airlines burn accident on behalf of our client as well as all cases of injury and/or wrongful death related to general aviation crashes, in-flight accidents and commercial airline negligence. The airline and airplane accident lawyers at Bohrer & Lukeman have successfully represented passengers injured during international and domestic flights for over 25 years and have experience and success against nearly all of the world’s major airlines. We handle general aviation crashes and accidents, commercial airline disasters and inflight injuries arising under both US domestic law, and the Montreal Convention governing the rights of international commercial airline passengers.