Judge Upholds Damages in Turbulence Suit

A federal judge has upheld all but one of the emotional distress verdicts awarded to 13 American Airlines passengers who said they feared for their lives when severe turbulence buffeted their jet five years ago.

Last year a federal jury awarded the passengers--among them film director Steven Spielberg’s sister, Nancy Spielberg, and her two children--a record $2.25 million for psychological trauma suffered on their 1995 flight from New York to Los Angeles.

In a ruling made public Monday, U.S. District Judge Constance Baker Motley threw out $150,000 of that amount given to Steven Spielberg’s younger niece, who was 2 years old at the time, because there was no evidence she suffered emotional damage.

The passengers sought damages for “fear of dying” caused by the experience.

Most of the $2.25-million total was made up of $150,000 given to each passenger for past emotional distress. Lawyers for the passengers said the awards were the highest ever given for psychological injuries.

American Airlines, owned by AMR Corp., had asked for a new trial or a reduced verdict. A spokesman for the company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Motley, in her ruling dated Friday, refused to grant a new trial. She said that while there are no reported cases in New York addressing “fear of flying” caused by airplane turbulence, there are analogous cases in which traumatic experiences caused emotional distress.

She said the awards in the American Airlines case were within the range of those similar New York verdicts.

The passengers said they believed the plane was going to crash during the 28-second episode. The plane, which had flown into a thunderstorm over southeastern Minnesota, made an emergency landing in Chicago on June 26, 1995.

The judge did not cut awards to Nancy Spielberg, who received a total of $160,000, nor did she cut the award to her older child, who received $215,000.

But she did throw out the award for emotional distress to her younger daughter, Melissa Katz.

Nancy Spielberg had testified that Melissa had been afraid to be left alone after the incident, wanted to stay in bed with her mother and would cry if Spielberg drove over speed bumps.

She said that although the child is “clingier” now, she is OK on airplanes.