A teenager who was sexually assaulted during an overnight flight from Los Angeles to Orlando is suing Delta Air Lines for negligence, alleging flight attendants served her attacker alcohol and failed to restrain him after the assault.
As a result, attorneys for the 13-year-old girl and her family claim her attacker groped another passenger during the June 23, 2022 flight and then harassed the minor by grabbing her groin and yelling at her as she and her family attempted to get off the plane.
“What was intended to be a joyful family trip turned into a life-altering, 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 in September to five years in prison for the attack and is currently in a low-security federal prison in New Jersey.
Lawyers for the teen and her family say in court documents that they are still living with the impacts of the attack, which have affected the girl as well as her younger brother and mother, who were also on board the flight.
The family is asking Delta Air Lines to pay for past, present and future damages suffered, including loss of income for the girl, her brother and her mother as a result of the assault, but the lawsuit does not specify a dollar amount.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 30 in state court, but the case was transferred to federal court earlier this month because the court found the amount of damages in question exceeded $75,000, and the defendant and plaintiffs live in different states, according to court records.
In the complaint, the attorneys claim Delta Air Lines “facilitated” the attack, alleging that Durning was already visibly intoxicated when he boarded and that he was served alcohol at the start of the overnight flight.
In a brief statement, a Delta spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit.
“We have zero tolerance for illegal behavior on flights and at airports and are working with law enforcement to that end,” the statement said.
According to the lawsuit, the 13-year-old girl, identified only as ZB in court documents, was traveling from LAX to Orlando with her brother and mother to visit family.
During the overnight flight, the mother was seated with her son, but the 13-year-old boy was seated separately in a middle seat with a woman on one side and Durning on the other.
The assault began, according to the lawsuit, after Durning was served alcohol on the flight and after the lights were dimmed.
According to court records, Durning began touching the girl's hair, breasts and vagina while touching her genitals.
At one point, Durning called the girl “honey” and told her he planned to take her away from her family and take her to Texas.
The girl already suffered from anxiety and selective mutism, which prevented her from screaming or calling for help during the attack, according to the lawsuit.
Flight attendants were finally alerted when the passenger on the other side woke up and saw Durning quickly pulling her hand away from the child.
The passenger yelled at Durning to stop, switched seats with the girl and called for flight attendants.
Durning allegedly groped the passenger's breasts as she called for help.
The family's attorneys say flight attendants did not restrain Durning or place him in the back of the plane, but instead moved him to a seat diagonally across from and within view of ZB.
This was done, according to the lawsuit, even after ZB's mother asked that he be moved somewhere out of her daughter's sight.
Durning continued to harass her and her family, touching himself while watching ZB and her family for the remainder of the flight, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims he was allowed to roam around the plane's cabin, allowing him to harass ZB and touch himself in front of her.
Before the flight landed in Orlando, Durning is also accused of groping the female passenger sitting next to him after he was moved.
At the end of the flight, as the family attempted to exit the plane via the boarding bridge, Durning allegedly grabbed his groin, screamed and appeared to throw his phone to the ground as they passed by.
Since the incident, lawyers say ZB has suffered nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and panic attacks.
According to the lawsuit, she has harmed herself and her grades have suffered after missing about 40 days of school. She refuses to hug family members and “has reacted negatively when her father touches her on the shoulder.”
“She was previously an excellent student and a popular classmate, but now she is struggling academically, does not want to go to school and has become socially isolated,” the complaint states.
His brother, who was 16 at the time, also suffered from anxiety, according to court documents, and now has a fear of flying and has developed a fear of unknown men.
“He is afraid of dark public spaces, such as movie theaters, and refuses to go anywhere outside of school or home without his mother,” she says.
