A Florida retiree has filed a $1 million suit against Delta Air Lines for a puncture wound he contends he suffered from a bloody syringe during a flight from Las Vegas.
Maurice Albert of Lauderhill was a passenger on the flight this spring when he reached into the pocket in front of his airplane seat for a magazine. Instead of grabbing a magazine, he said he stabbed himself on the bloody needle.Albert said he has tested negative so far for HIV, but he is still worried. He is charging the airline with negligence for not properly cleaning out the pocket.
Attorney Stanley Rosenblatt, who filed the suit Tuesday in Broward County Circuit Court, said Friday that even if Albert does not contract AIDS, damages will be sought for the anxiety and worry over the past three months.
"A recent study by Harvard shows that by the year 2000, 100 million people will have AIDS," Rosenblatt said. "Some people are able to deal with the fear and ignore it, but some are not."
Rosenblatt said Albert wants to know who was sitting in the seat before him.
"He'd like to know who this passenger is and Delta won't tell him," Rosenblatt said.
Delta spokesman Clay McConnell said Delta does not release information about its passengers, and in any event it would be difficult identifying the previous occupant of the seat.
"Anyone that travels knows that people change seats frequently on an aircraft," he said. "There's no way to determine without a doubt where someone sat on a particular flight."
"Delta contends it is against company policy to provide passenger information. Well, it is against the policy of Mr. Albert to serve as a guinea pig because of Delta's inability to properly clean its aircraft," the lawyer said.