The Commercial Court of Seville has sentenced an airline to compensate 30,792.93 euros to a passenger from the Andalusian capital who fell while descending the stairs of an airplane and suffered several subsequent physical problems, including two operations on one leg.
The accident occurred on February 7, 2020 when the passenger, who had gone to Alicante from Seville to meet her newborn grandson, fell down the plane's stairs.
The woman demonstrated in the trial that in her case there was no negligence and that at all times she used the pass to go down the stairs, according to the lawyer Enrique Osuna, who has been in charge of the defense of the passenger.
The ruling cites that the plane's staircase "was especially narrow and steep," and for reasons beyond the woman's control she suffered a spectacular fall, rolling from the second step to the end of the staircase and suffering serious injuries.
She was initially treated by the health care at the Alicante-Elche Airport, to be transferred to the IMED Hospital in Elche and subsequently transferred to the Vithas Hospital, where she was admitted and underwent osteosynthesis surgery for a tibia and fibula fracture.
Among other problems, he suffered post-traumatic back pain, limitations in flexion and extension, insertion of osteosynthesis material in the tibia or fibula, and two surgeries, one major and one minor.
The lawyer has explained that after the date of the accident an attempt was made to reach an amicable agreement with the company, which was not possible, and recalls that the Montreal Convention establishes "the objective liability of the carrier in the case of bodily injuries of a passenger during the boarding and disembarking operations of the aircraft".
Article 21 of the same text establishes that if the damage provided for in the previous article does not exceed 100,000 euros in special drawing rights (SDRs) per passenger, "the carrier may not exclude or limit its liability."
