A teenage girl who was sexually assaulted on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Orlando is suing Delta Air Lines for negligence, claiming a flight attendant provided her attacker with alcohol and failed to respond after the attack. Stop him.
As a result, lawyers for the 13-year-old girl and her family claimed that the attacker touched another passenger on the June 23, 2022 flight, then grabbed the underage girl’s groin and violently assaulted her and her family. Shouting and harassing the minor girl.
“What was supposed to be a joyful family trip for a teenager turned into a life-changing, painful experience and every parent’s worst nightmare,” the lawsuit filed in federal court reads.
Brian Patrick Durning, 53, of Altadena, was sentenced in September to five years in prison for the attack and is being held at a low-security federal prison in New Jersey.
Lawyers for the teen and her family said in court documents that they are still living with the impact of the attack, which affected the girl, her brother and mother, who were also on the plane.
The girl’s family is seeking compensation from Delta for past, present and future damages, including lost income to the girl, her brother and her mother as a result of the attack, but the lawsuit does not specify an amount.
The lawsuit was filed in state court on January 30, but according to court records, the case was moved to federal court earlier this month after the court found that the damages involved exceeded $75,000 and that the defendants and plaintiffs lived in different states. .
In the complaint, attorneys claim Delta “facilitated” the attack, saying Durning was visibly intoxicated when he boarded the plane and was provided alcohol at the start of the night flight.
A Delta spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit in a brief statement.
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to illegal conduct on flights and airports and work with law enforcement 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 with her brother and mother from Los Angeles International Airport to Orlando to visit family.
During the night flight, the mother and son sat together, but the 13-year-old son sat alone in the middle seat, with a woman on one side and Denin on the other.
The attack began after Durning drank alcohol on the plane and the lights were dimmed, the lawsuit said.
According to court records, Durning began touching the girl’s hair, breasts and vagina, while also touching his own genitals.
At one point, Durning called the girl “honey boo” and told her he planned to take her away from her family and go to Texas.
The girl already experienced anxiety and selective mutism, which left her unable to scream or call for help during the attack, the lawsuit said.
The flight attendant was finally alerted when the female passenger on the other side woke up and saw Denning quickly removing her hands from the minor.
The passenger yelled at Durning to stop, switched seats with the girl and called the flight attendant.
Durning allegedly touched the female passenger’s breasts and called for help.
Lawyers for Durning’s family claim the flight attendant failed to restrain Durning or place him in the back of the plane. Instead, he was moved to a seat diagonally within ZB’s field of view
The lawsuit alleges that they did so even after ZB’s mother asked that he be moved out of her daughter’s sight.
The lawsuit alleges that Durning continued to harass her and her family, touching himself while looking at ZB and her family for the remainder of the flight.
He was allowed to roam the cabin, which enabled him to harass ZB and touch himself in front of her, the lawsuit states.
Durning is accused of touching the female passenger sitting next to him after being moved before the flight landed in Orlando.
At the end of the flight, as the family tried to exit the plane via the jet bridge, Durning allegedly grabbed him by the groin, screamed and appeared to drop his phone as they walked by.
Since the incident, lawyers claim ZB has suffered from nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and panic attacks.
The lawsuit says she was injured and missed about 40 days of school, causing her grades to suffer. She refused to hug her family and “reacted negatively to her father touching her shoulder.”
“She was previously an excellent student and popular classmate, but now she is struggling academically, does not want to attend school, and is isolating herself socially,” the statement said.
Her brother, who was 16 at the time, also suffered from anxiety and was now afraid of flying and developed a fear of male strangers, according to court documents.
“He became afraid of dark public places such as movie theaters and refused to go anywhere other than school or go home without his mother,” the statement read.
