Judge: Airline Suit May Proceed

The Livingston Press Argus

By Lisa Roose-Church, Daily Press & Argus Reporter
September 8, 2008

A federal judge has ruled a lawsuit involving a Livingston County resident against Northwest Airlines Inc. can move forward.

The airline sought to dismiss the lawsuit, but in a decision released Wednesday, U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh said the case should continue because the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to airports, said Kristin Priest, spokeswoman for the plaintiffs.

"This has the potential to affect every airport in the U.S.," she said.

Farmington Hills attorney Richard Bernstein of the Bernstein Law Firm filed the lawsuit — which lists Pinckney resident James Keskeny as one of five plaintiffs — April 14 in U.S. District Court in Detroit, seeking an end to Northwest and Wayne County Airport Authority's alleged failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Air Carrier Access Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

In the suit, Keskeny, who uses a wheelchair because of his multiple sclerosis, alleges he has been transported in a "degrading manner" by untrained airport personnel.

Keskeny is well-known as a wheelchair athlete who participates in marathons to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.

Keskeny, who has flown on Northwest for business and vacations, alleges he was tilted parallel to the floor as he was wheeled down the aisle of a plane by airport staff and that airline staff broke his wheelchair while handling it.

Keskeny said in a previous interview that a lot of his trips were frustrating in a number of ways, including long waits to get in and out of the bathroom, or to get off the plane, or not having proper access for wheelchair storage.

The ACAA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel, and the Rehabilitation Act includes a variety of provisions focused on rights for people with disabilities.

Attorneys for Northwest argued that the access law does not provide for a private cause of action in federal court. They also argued that Congress did not intend for the Rehabilitation Act to apply to commercial air carriers.

Steeh dismissed the ACAA claims against the airline, but denied a request to dismiss the ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims.

Plaintiffs in the suit also include two Detroit residents, one of whom suffered from the effects of polio and was "forced to stand in line when physically unable to do so" and a blind woman who was "denied use of check-in kiosks" and missed flights while waiting for assistance, the lawsuit states. Also suing are a Roseville man who alleges he was "dropped to the floor due to improper assistance"; and a Farmington resident whose wheelchair "incurred repeated damage on Northwest flights and was also given to another disabled passenger by mistake."

An earlier agreement by both sides dismissed the ACAA claim against the airport authority.