Doug / 12-14-2011 / Consumer Safety

Florida Man Dies From Airline Food Poisoning

Mike Damaso Tom Dennis
Written By
Mike Damaso and Tom Dennis
Butch Wooten Orman Kimbrough
Peer Reviewed By
Butch Wooten and Orman Kimbrough
Updated: October 30, 2024

The family of a Florida man who died from food poisoning from a meal he consumed on a flight has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against American Airlines, according to ABC News. Othon Cortes, 73, died after eating a chicken meal on a flight that was contaminated. His widow and daughter filed the suit.

American Airlines does not comment on pending litigation, according to a spokesman. Sky Chefs, an airline catering company, is also named in the lawsuit. Sky Chefs claims they did not cater meals on that particular flight. The lawsuit claims the chicken was contaminated with Clostridium perfingens, a deadly bacteria.

Once his flight landed in New York, Cortes had severe stomach pains and sudden thirst before boarding another flight to Miami. The flight had to make an emergency stop in Norfolf, Virginia as his conditioned worsened before he was pronounced dead.

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