Flight attendant gets six-figure payout after breaking leg in seven places during turbulence
A flight attendant who broke her leg in seven places during severe turbulence has won a six-figure payout.
Eden Garrity, 31, was pushing a trolley as the Thomas Cook flight from Cuba to Manchester entered a violent Atlantic hailstorm in August 2019.
The impact of the turbulence thrust the flight 500ft upwards, pinning her to the ground and snapping her ankle. She was unable to walk for two months after the incident, and underwent numerous operations and intense rehabilitation.
Ms Garrity has been left with nerve damage, which makes it painful for her to stand up for long periods and means she can never return to work as cabin crew.
She said: “It has left me bitter, I’m resentful for it. It’s just frustrating. It was the best job in the world, and I feel like I’ve lost a piece of my personality. You see people you’re friends with and they’re travelling in the skies and I’m not, I’m forever grounded. I’ll never be able to fly for work again.
“I appreciate the payout, but it doesn’t bring back what I’ve lost. It helps in terms off getting my own property, but I’m 31 and I have the rest of my life ahead of me and I can’t do what I want to do… I suffered from depression and was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety.”
Ms Garrity, of Leigh, Greater Manchester, was left on the floor of the plane for an hour while seats were cleared after the turbulence hit. She was able to lie across the back row of seats, and taken to hospital as soon as the flight landed in Manchester.
Doctors said the impact of the plane floor was “like a sledgehammer” hitting her foot. Ms Garrity needed surgery to insert screws and metal plates in her leg, as well as a huge external metal brace.
The aircraft had taken a detour of around 100 miles to avoid adverse weather conditions as it crossed the Atlantic, but she said she and other crew members had not been made aware, either during the journey or at the pre-flight staff briefing, of the risk of turbulence.
She said: “Usually, if we’re going to have some turbulence, they’ll tell us before the flight and let us know what the plans are. For example, they might say ‘we’re going to put the seatbelt signs on’ or ‘we’re not going to release you’.”
Lawyers from Thompsons Solicitors argued that staff should have been made aware that the flight would encounter poor flying weather and additional precautions should have been put in place.
While Thomas Cook’s insurers denied responsibility for her injuries, Ms Garrity has received an undisclosed compensation care package worth six figures.
Neil Richards, the injury law expert who represented her, said: “The circumstances surrounding the incident in which Ms Garrity sustained her injuries should have been foreseen. The issue of inflight safety, especially when working in certain geographical regions including the Caribbean, carries a known health and safety risk.
“Turbulence also represents an obvious and serious danger to all those onboard, and especially to airline staff who are required to work in and around the cabin in such environments.”
Stephen Pinder, the Unite union’s legal director, said: “I am pleased with the result achieved for our member and their family. Unite will be taking the lessons learned during this case back into our industrial work to help ensure other airline staff are protected from similar incidents.”
