A Washington man says his cross-country flight home from Atlanta left him with years of back pain and surgeries.
Attorneys for Rolando Jimenez have filed a lawsuit in Gwinnett County on his behalf saying that he sustained injuries on an Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines flight in October 2024.
According to the lawsuit, Jimenez was sitting in the window seat and the person in the middle seat did not adequately fit and was taking over part of his space.
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Because of this, Jimenez said he had to spend the whole five-and-a-half hour flight in a "constrained and twisted posture" against the wall. He says he asked the flight attendants to move his seat, but the flight was full, the lawsuit says.
Jimenez alleges that when he stood at the end of the flight, he "experienced immediate and severe pain radiating from his lower back down his left leg."
In the weeks after, doctors say his pain became "dramatically worse," and Jimenez underwent a laminectomy, a type of back surgery, the lawsuit.
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The lawsuit lists $44,447.51 in current medical expenses, but also says Jimenez will likely need more treatment, including a spinal cord stimulator.
Attorneys say Delta is negligent because they did not provide Jimenez with a safe and usable seat, did not enforce its own seating policies and allowed his space to be encroached upon, among other things.
Delta shared a statement with Channel 2 Action News saying they do not comment on pending litigation.
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