Wife Sues Claiming Airline Food Killed Her Husband

People often joke about how bad airline food is, but for one family in particular it is no laughing matter. The wife and daughter of Othon Cortes from Miami, Fla., are suing American Airlines and LSG Sky Chefs over a meal they claim killed their husband and father.

CNN reports that the women saying Cortes was infected with Clostridium perfringens from a meal that included chicken on May 18. The lawsuit states the meal was eaten on a flight from Barcelona to John F. Kennedy airport. When at the airport, Cortes was described as experiencing "discomfort and pain that included sharp stomach cramps and sudden thirst and other clear outward manifestation of severe physical illness." While on the flight home to Miami, Cortes became nauseous, experienced shortness of breath and suffered a heart attack, which killed him.

The family has accused the companies of "failing to properly maintain or prepare the food", according to CNN and are suing for $1 million.

But the case is no where close to settled. CNN reports that not only is perfringens, the most common form of food poisoning, considered rarely fatal by the FDA, but Sky Chefs is also saying its food would not have even catered the Barcelona flight. For now, American Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy this week, declined to comment.

[H/T Gizmodo]