Gendreau v. Hyannis Air Service Inc.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder allegedly resulting from traumatic flight. Plaintiff was a passenger in a 9-seater Cessna 402C commercial flight from Cape Cod to Martha’s Vineyard. The weather was rainy. When the plane had reached the intended altitude and the pilot had turned on the automatic pilot, the pilot felt the plane pitch upward. The pilot attempted to correct the angle of the plane’s flight by turning off the automatic pilot and performing a series of undulations to level the plane.
The pilot declared an emergency and returned the plane to the airport. While taxiing back to the gate, the plane blew out a tire. The plaintiff claimed that he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, nightmares, sweating and fear of flying.
At trial the defense showed that the passenger’s wife had previously brought an unrelated action in which she claimed post traumatic stress disorder. Although the same doctor testified in both actions, the passenger had not reported anything about the flight until 16 months after the flight, although he had seen the doctor four times.
The defense further showed that the passenger had been involved in a car accident and had had his fingers severed in a snow blower accident 9 months after the flight, yet still referred to the flight as the big incident. After a 10 day trial, the jury returned a verdict for the defense after just 2 hours. An appeal is pending.
