A teenage girl who was sexually assaulted on a nighttime 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 attack.
Lawyers for the 13-year-old girl and her family allege that her attacker touched another passenger during the June 23, 2022, flight and then assaulted the underage girl by grabbing his crotch and yelling at her as she and her family tried to get off the plane.
“What was intended to be a fun family outing turned into a life-changing, traumatic experience for a young teenager and every parent’s worst nightmare,” reads the lawsuit, filed in federal court.
Brian Patrick Durning, 53, of Altadena, was sentenced to five years in prison in September for the attack and is currently serving time in a low-security federal prison in New Jersey.
Lawyers for the teenage girl and her family say in court documents that they are still dealing with the aftermath of the attack, not just the girl herself, but also her brother and their mother, who were also on board the plane.
The family is seeking compensation from Delta Air Lines for past, present and future damages suffered by the girl, her brother and her mother, including the loss of income suffered by the girl, her brother and her mother as a result of the abuse. However, the lawsuit does not specify a figure.
The lawsuit was filed in state court on Jan. 30, but the case was transferred to federal court earlier this month because the court ruled the amount of damages exceeded $75,000 and the defendant and plaintiffs live in different states, court documents said.
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Attorneys allege in the complaint that Delta Air Lines “enabled” the attack. They allege that Durning was visibly intoxicated when he boarded the plane and that alcohol was served early in the night flight.
A Delta spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit in a brief statement.
“We do not tolerate any unlawful behavior on flights and airports and work with law enforcement to achieve that,” the statement said.
According to the criminal complaint, the then-13-year-old girl — identified in court documents only as ZB — had traveled from LAX to Orlando with her brother and mother to visit family.
During the overnight flight, the mother sat with her son, but the 13-year-old sat separately in a middle seat, with a woman on one side and Durning on the other.
The attack began, the indictment says, after Durning was given alcohol on the plane and the lights were dimmed.
According to court documents, Durning began touching the girl's hair, breasts and vagina, while also touching his own genitals.
At one point, Durning called the girl “sweetheart” and told her he planned to take her away from her family to Texas.
According to the complaint, the girl already suffered from anxiety and selective mutism, which prevented her from screaming or calling for help during the attack.
Cabin crew were eventually alerted when the female passenger on the other side woke up and saw Durning quickly pulling his hand away from the child.
The passenger yelled at Durning to stop, switched seats with the girl and called the flight attendants.
Durning allegedly touched the female passenger's breasts while she was calling for help.
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Lawyers for the family allege that flight attendants did not hold Durning down or seat him in the back of the plane. Instead, they moved him to a seat diagonally across from ZB and within sight of him.
This happened, the lawsuit alleges, even after ZB's mother asked to have him moved somewhere where her daughter couldn't see him.
According to the complaint, Durning continued to harass her and her family, touching himself while watching ZB and her family for the rest of the flight.
The complaint alleges that he was allowed to walk freely around the plane's cabin, allowing him to harass ZB and fondle himself in front of her.
Before the plane landed in Orlando, Durning also allegedly touched the female passenger sitting next to him after he was moved.
At the end of the flight, as the family tried to exit the plane through the jet bridge, Durning reportedly grabbed him by the groin, screamed and threw his phone away as they walked past.
Lawyers allege that ZB has suffered from nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and panic attacks since the incident.
According to the lawsuit, she has been hurting herself and her grades have declined after missing about 40 days of school. She refuses to hug family members and “reacts negatively to her father touching her on the shoulder.”
“She used to be an excellent student and a popular classmate, but now she struggles with her studies, does not want to go to school and has isolated herself socially,” the claim said.
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Her brother, then 16, also suffered from anxiety disorders, according to court documents. He now has a fear of flying and has also become afraid of unknown men.
“He has become afraid of dark public places, such as movie theaters, and refuses to go places outside of school, or go home without his mother,” it said.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
