Women who tried to sue an airline when a mid-air brawl erupted over a boom box have lost their lawsuit after their credibility was called into question.
Three passengers who claimed they were assaulted when a brawl erupted over a boom box speaker on a Spirit Airlines flight last March tried to blame the airline for continuing to serve alcohol to rowdy passengers and failing to defuse the fracas.
A jury in Los Angeles sat for 12 days for the trial, which ended badly for the women – Lisa Zampella, Tykisha Diodato and Danielle Fonda-Thomas – whose versions of events were picked apart by Spirit’s lawyers.
Video footage of the fight went viral, showing the women slapping and pulling hair in the cabin.
The brawl that erupted on the Spirit Airlines flight from Baltimore to Los Angeles over the playing of loud music
Passengers Lisa Zampella, Tykisha Diodato and Danielle Fonda-Thomas with their lawyer Gloria Allred, who say they are to sue Spirit Airlines
Richard Lazenby, the airline’s lawyer, told the New York Daily News: ‘The credibility of plaintiffs’ account of the events was repeatedly challenged through the testimony of numerous witnesses, including plaintiffs, the flight attendants, and other passengers.
‘The court applied California law, which prohibits liability based solely on serving alcohol.
‘Plaintiffs needed to prove that their version of their attackers’ behavior in conjunction with the flight attendants’ failure to monitor or curb such behavior rendered an attack foreseeable, which the jury rejected by their verdict.’
The fight erupted on Flight 141 from Baltimore to LA, after reports two drunk women had been playing loud music out of the speaker during the trip.
Several passengers asked the pair to turn the music down, but instead they put the boom box in the air and started waving it around.
A group of women then approached the two when the plane pulled up at the gate, starting an all-out brawl, which was captured on video.
Three passengers who were caught up in the brawl immediately said they were to sue Spirit Airlines claiming they failed to protect them from injury and continued to serve alcohol despite the aggressive atmosphere.
Passenger and plaintiff Tykisha Diodato told the New York Daily News at the time: ‘I am upset that the Spirit Airlines failed to protect us, disregarded our safety, and instead continued to serve the women in front of us alcoholic beverages even though they were clearly intoxicated and behaving aggressively.’
Ms Diodato added that she and fellow plaintiffs Lisa Zampella and Danielle Fonda-Thomas were flying from Baltimore to Los Angeles for a long-awaited vacation.
Several passengers asked the pair of females to turn the music down, but instead they put the boom box in the air and started waving it around
But they claimed three other passengers began drinking alcohol and playing loud music from a bluetooth speaker.
They said that after they were asked to stop swearing and keep the noise down, one of the women attacked Ms Fonda Thomas, with the other two women also suffering injuries when they jumped to her defense.
Their lawyer Gloria Allred said: ‘It was not a mutual combat situation as some have described in prior reports.’
However, a spokesman for Spirit Airlines denied the claims saying the flight attendants were in their jump seats as required by law and it is their policy not to over-serve alcohol.
The brawl on the flight. Now three women who claimed they were injured during the fight are suing Spirit Airlines
The women claim that Spirit Airlines did not do enough to protect them and that the carrier were serving too much alcohol
After the incident footage of the brawl emerged online and the female passengers appear to be throwing punches, pulling at each other’s hair and screaming as other passengers look on.
Some passengers move out of the way of the scuffle, while many others can be seen filming it on their cellphones.
The crew notified LAX police and officers were waiting for the women when the flight landed.
Speaking at the time, LAX Police spokesman Rob Pedregon described the incident to The Washington Post as a ‘mutual combat situation’.
A spokesman for Spirit Airlines denied the claims saying the flight attendants were in their jump seats as required by law and it is their policy not to over-serve alcohol
‘It’s just one of those things,’ Pedregon said.
‘People in the air, stuck in a small confined space for a number of hours.
‘It isn’t uncommon. People lose their tempers and just refuse to get along.’
The FBI were also called in, as per procedure and all five were pulled off the plane and interviewed. However no one was arrested or charged.