Bride Sues American Airlines For $3.4 Million Saying Red Wine Was Intentionally Spilled On Her Wedding Dress
In the days leading up to her wedding, Yewande Oteh could not wait to fulfill her dream of getting married in her grandparents’ hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica. However, one trip on an American Airline’s flight turned her dream into a nightmare, and has now resulted in a $3.4 million lawsuit.
Back in August 2015, Oteh, her husband, Chidi, their then-nine-month-old son, her mother, Yvette Sterling, and her sister, Dr. Kemi Fajolu boarded an American Airlines flight to Jamaica. During the check-in process, a ticket agent at the Philadelphia International Airport advised Oteh to place the wedding gown in a closet on the plane instead of keeping it in her checked bag.
According to the lawsuit, Oteh alleged that while she was on board, flight attendant Melanie Masters would not allow her to put her wedding dress in the closet designated for employees only. Oteh was instructed to put her dress in the overhead bin, said the lawsuit.
The 31-page suit also alleges that Masters became “indignant and agitated” while speaking to Oteh and that she “egregiously” destroyed her dress.
“American Airlines and its personnel robbed all of us of this once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Oteh’s mother, who is also her attorney, to the Courier-Post.
Oteh put the dress in a storage bin in the first-class section, according to the suit. Although Oteh believed her dress was the only item in the overhead bin, when they arrived, Oteh noticed a giant red wine stain on the garment, the suit says.
“It was her belief that the flight attendants were placing something in the bin and making fun of (Oteh) and her wedding gown,” the suit asserts.
Oteh, said the devastation of the ruined gown caused her to cancel pre-made events and plans before her wedding.
The suit says Oteh could not look at her “absolutely unwearable and unfixable” dress “without crying, getting emotionally distraught and severely saddened.”
Additionally, Oteh could not find a replacement dress in Montego Bay, and her sister flew to Fort Lauderdale to buy several gowns that could not be fitted or returned.
The lawsuit is asking for $850,000 for each of the four counts: Negligence, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress and Negligent Hiring and Negligent Retention, reported the Daily Mail.