Michigan woman sues American Airlines over 1st- and 2nd-degree burns to ‘genital area’ from in-flight coffee spill

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In February, a woman flying Korean Air from New York City to Seoul sued after a flight attendant “spilled a… cup of boiling hot coffee on lap, causing her to sustain grievous personal injuries near her genital area,” according to a civil complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court. In 2022, a traveler — also aboard Korean Air — sued after she said a flight attendant spilled hot tea onto her lap, causing “burns to her legs, both thighs and the area in between,” and “possible permanent cosmetic deformity and scarring.” In 2015, the carrier was hit with a lawsuit by a man claiming similar injuries from a cup of hot coffee a Korean Air flight attendant had allegedly placed on his tray table amidst a bout of rough turbulence. In 2018, a model flying Asiana business class from South Korea to Paris sued after receiving 3rd-degree burns to her “private parts” after a flight attendant spilled hot noodle soup on her. In Mason’s case, her lawsuit accuses American Airlines of not having used “due care and caution in securing their beverage carts during the flight,” and says the flight attendant was negligent in “failing to remove or secure the hot coffee pot on the beverage cart during extreme turbulence” and “negligently leaving the beverage cart parked directly next to a passenger’s seat during extreme turbulence.” On top of the burns, Mason says the incident also caused her anxiety and depression, according to the complaint.