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A 36-year-old traveler is suing United Airlines after a piece of the plane’s ceiling suddenly detached, smacking into the woman’s head, knocking her out cold and leaving her with a concussion.
Antranique Wash is seeking up to $1 million in damages over the incident, which her lawyer says continues to affect her client long after the fact.
Attorney Anna McMullen told The Independent that Wash lost consciousness after getting hit with the panel during a flight and that she “still struggles with vision impairment and pain, even a year-and-a-half later.”
“Ms. Wash, like all ticketed passengers, expected her plane to be safe from boarding until she deplaned,” McMullen said in an email on Wednesday. “United did not ensure that its plane was safe, not only for Ms. Wash, but for all of its passengers. Passengers should not have to fear for their safety on commercial aircraft, and United needs to be accountable.”
Wash lives in the Houston area and works as a commercial driver, McMullen said.
A United Airlines spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The alleged incident over which Wash is suing occurred on November 15, 2023, at the end of a flight from Chicago to Houston, according to a civil complaint filed in Harris County, Texas.
“When the plane landed at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Harris County, Texas, a panel fell from the ceiling and struck [Wash] in the head,” the complaint states. “As a result of the incident, [Wash] sustained severe personal injuries including but not limited to concussion.”
United failed to “protect and guard [Wash] from the unreasonably dangerous condition existing on its plane, namely a loose and/or dislodged ceiling tile, or to warn her of its existence,” the complaint argues. It says Wash “was exercising ordinary care when she was suddenly and unexpectedly injured.”
“As a result of the aforesaid dangerous condition, [Wash] sustained severe and permanent injuries,” according to the complaint.
Wash’s lawsuit accuses United Airlines of various forms of negligence, such as not implementing adequate maintenance procedures.
The carrier “owed a duty to ensure the safety of its invitees through the duration of their time within the airplane,” her complaint contends.
Wash is seeking a minimum of $250,000 and a maximum of $1 million in consequential and punitive damages, claiming she has suffered physical pain and impairment, mental anguish, loss of earning capacity and enjoyment of life and has been required to lay out significant sums for medical expenses.
United now has until May 20 to formally respond to Wash’s allegations.
Last month, passengers aboard a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Chicago made headlines after they were forced to hold up parts of the cabin’s ceiling when a panel came loose mid-flight. Flight attendants eventually re-secured the panel using duct tape, “so customers did not have to manually hold it,” a Delta spokesperson said at the time.
The aircraft turned back to Atlanta, where passengers deplaned and boarded a different flight a couple of hours later. They were each awarded 10,000 miles, worth about $100, for their troubles. There were no injuries reported, according to Delta officials.
Last year, a JetBlue passenger sued over a “life-altering” concussion she said she received during a hard landing at an airport in South Carolina, rendering her unable to work in the aftermath.
In 2020, an American Airlines flight attendant received a concussion during turbulence, going airborne and smashing her head against a door at the rear of the airplane. She was left with neck and shoulder pain, blurred vision in one eye, and ringing in one of her ears.
Three years earlier, a Kentucky pulmonologist sued United for a concussion he said airport police gave him after he refused to give up his seat on an overbooked flight. On top of the head injury, Dr. David Dao woke up in the hospital with a broken nose and two broken teeth, his lawyer said. United ultimately gave Dao, who later wrote a book about the harrowing experience, a multimillion-dollar settlement for his injuries.
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