Ex-Pilot’s healthy Says JetBlue should Have known He was unfit to Fly

A former JetBlue airlines Corp. pilot whose midair meltdown pressured an emergency landing of a 2012 flight on Friday sued the provider for $14.nine million, pronouncing it should have grounded him as it knew he turned into incapable of flying.

Clayton Osbon, fifty two, filed his lawsuit in ny federal court 3 days after the crash of a Germanwings aircraft within the French Alps, which killed one hundred fifty passengers and crew. government accept as true with that plane’s co-pilot deliberately brought on the crash.

Osbon also sued exactly 3 years after his erratic conduct on a new york-to-Las Vegas flight that he become co-piloting resulted in an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas.

That occurred after Osbon began running via the aisles, ranting approximately faith and terrorism and making remarks which includes “We’re now not going to Vegas” and “You’d better start praying now!” Passengers subdued Osbon as every other co-pilot landed the aircraft.

In his lawsuit, Osbon said his behavior at the flight stemmed from a “complicated partial brain seizure” that JetBlue need to have caught earlier than he boarded, after he had neglected a preflight meeting and seemed disheveled, disoriented and sluggish.

“JetBlue didn't make any attempt to make sure that Captain Osbon changed into healthy to fly,” the grievance said. “rather, JetBlue maintained a tradition designed to shield the careers of crewmembers that were demonstrably impaired.”

Osbon said the episode subjected him to “country wide public embarrassment” in conventional and social media, and derailed his activity potentialities.

A federal judge later determined him now not guilty by using motive of insanity to a criminal price of interfering with a flight group.

The lawsuit accuses JetBlue of negligence and breach of agreement. It seeks $four.eighty five million of compensatory damages, $4.85 million of punitive damages, a combined $4.85 million for reputational harm and emotional distress, and different sums.

the big apple has a 3-year statute of obstacles for negligence claims.

Philip Stewart, a spokesman for long island metropolis, new york-based JetBlue, said it stood at the back of “the heroic moves of the team, who observed well installed protection and security approaches each earlier than and for the duration of the flight.”

Osbon’s attorney Matthew McDonald declined to comment.

The lawsuit stated Osbon’s brain harm turned into no longer recognized until several months after his arrest. It also said he has no longer suffered seizures while taking his prescribed medicine, and that he is authorized to force.