A teenager who was sexually assaulted during a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Orlando is suing Delta Air Lines for negligence, alleging that flight attendants served her attacker alcohol and failed to restrain him after the assault.
As a result, lawyers for the 13-year-old girl and her family claim that her attacker touched another passenger during the June 23, 2022 flight and then harassed the underage girl, grabbing her crotch and yelling at her as she and his family tried to get off the plane.
“What was intended to be a joyful family trip turned into a traumatic and life-changing experience for a young teenager and every parent’s worst nightmare,” says the lawsuit, filed in federal court.
Brian Patrick Durning, 53, of Altadena, was sentenced in September to five years in prison because of the attack and is currently in a low-security federal prison in New Jersey.
Lawyers for the teenager and her family say in court documents that they are still living with the impacts of the attack, which affected the girl, as well as her younger brother and mother, who were also on board the flight.
The family is asking Delta Air Lines to pay for the past, present and future damages suffered, including the loss of income for the girl, her brother and her mother as a result of the assault, but the lawsuit does not specify a dollar amount.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 30 in state court, but the case was transferred to federal court earlier this month because the court found the amount of damages at issue exceeded $75,000, and the defendant and plaintiffs live in states different, according to court records. .
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In the complaint, the lawyers claim that Delta Air Lines “allowed” the attack, alleging that Durning was already visibly intoxicated when he boarded and that he was served alcohol at the beginning of the night flight.
In a brief statement, a Delta spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
“We have zero tolerance for illegal behavior on flights and airports and work with authorities to this end,” the statement read.
According to the lawsuit, the then-13-year-old girl — identified only as ZB in court documents — was traveling from LAX to Orlando with her brother and mother to visit family.
During the overnight flight, the mother was sitting with her son, but the 13-year-old boy was sitting separately in the middle seat, with a woman on one side and Durning on the other.
The assault began, according to the lawsuit, after Durning was given alcohol during the flight and after the lights were turned off.
According to court records, Durning began touching the girl’s hair, breasts and vagina while touching her genitals.
At one point, Durning called the girl “honey” and said he planned to take her away from her family to Texas.
The girl already suffered from anxiety and selective mutism, which prevented her from screaming or calling for help during the attack, according to the lawsuit.
The flight attendants were finally alerted when the passenger on the other side woke up and saw Durning quickly move the child’s hand away.
The passenger shouted for Durning to stop, switched seats with the girl and called the flight attendants.
Durning allegedly touched the passenger’s breasts and she called for help.
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The family’s lawyers say flight attendants did not restrain Durning or place him in the back of the plane. Instead, he was moved to a seat diagonally across and in full view of Z.B.
This was done, the suit claims, even after ZB’s mother asked that he be moved somewhere out of her daughter’s sight.
Durning continued to harass her and her family, touching herself while staring at ZB and her family throughout the remainder of the flight, according to the lawsuit.
The suit claims he was allowed to roam the plane’s cabin, which allowed him to harass ZB and touch himself in front of her.
Before the flight landed in Orlando, Durning is accused of also touching the passenger who was sitting next to him after being transferred.
At the end of the flight, as the family tried to exit the plane via the boarding bridge, Durning allegedly grabbed his crotch, screamed and appeared to throw the phone to the ground as they passed.
Since the incident, lawyers say ZB has suffered nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and panic attacks.
According to the lawsuit, she was injured and her grades suffered after she missed about 40 days of school. She refuses to hug family members and “reacted negatively to her father touching her on the shoulder.”
“Formerly an excellent student and popular classmate, she now struggles academically, does not want to go to school, and has become socially isolated,” the allegation states.
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His brother, then 16, also suffered from anxiety, according to court documents, is now afraid of flying and has developed a fear of male strangers.
“He became afraid of dark public spaces, like cinemas, and refuses to go places outside of school or home without his mother,” he says.
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
