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Marshall v. Western Air Lines Inc.8/5/1991
Suzette Marshall appeals from a summary judgment in favor of Western Air Lines that dismissed with prejudice her personal injury claims. Marshall contends that a reasonable juror could have inferred negligence on the part of Western Air Lines under the theories of res ipsa loquitur and breach of a duty to warn. We affirm.
Facts
On October 11, 1984, Marshall was returning to Pasco from Idaho Falls on Western Air Lines flight 225 aboard a Boeing 737. Marshall, age 30, had flown previously and had never experienced any problems. She contended that a sudden change in cabin air pressure occurred on the last leg of the flight, between Boise and Pasco. She felt extreme suction, then spinning, nausea, and extreme confusion. She grabbed her head and tried to orient and compose herself. She called for a flight attendant, but no one responded. Marshall stated other passengers were exclaiming aloud and she recalled a "general feeling of something [not being] quite right". Marshall presented no evidence, however, that other passengers had noticed a
change in cabin air pressure. Marshall did not recall any announcements during the incident, but she did recall an earlier announcement about possible air turbulence. All of the crew members aboard Marshall's flight uniformly declared that "there was no sudden or unusual loss of cabin pressure during the flight in question, and no unusual event of any kind."
When the plane landed, Marshall was unsure whether she could stand up or walk by herself. A flight attendant eventually assisted her off the plane. Marshall told the flight attendant that she was sick and felt enormous pain and pressure in her head. The flight attendant remarked that Marshall was probably "air sick", and that she "wasn't the only one who had gotten sick on the flight." Marshall sat in the baggage claim area for a long time, trying to focus hard enough to keep her vision straight. She considered going to the hospital. Eventually, she was able to retrieve her suitcase and roll it to her truck in the airport parking lot. Marshall did not think she could drive to her home from the airport, so she practiced driving around the airport access roads before picking up her children at a friend's house. Marshall told her friend that something had happened on the flight and that she felt sick.
Marshall's symptoms did not go away. She continued to have spinning sensations and could barely even walk. She spoke to her family doctor about her symptoms. The doctor looked at her ears but did not see anything out of the ordinary. Marshall's doctor told her to call him if she did not improve in a couple of days. Marshall's condition worsened; besides being dizzy, she could not stand, eat, or sleep. Her husband had to drive her to the doctor. The doctor thought Marshall might have an inner ear infection and prescribed an antibiotic.
Several weeks after the flight from Idaho Falls, Marshall went to the emergency room with symptoms of vertigo, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The two physicians who examined Marshall both noted that she had
complained of an unusual pulsing sensation in her ear, and approximately 1 week later, experienced "subjective vertigo" with "nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea."
Approximately 8 months after the flight, Marshall was treated by Dr. John Lindgren, an ear specialist and clinical instructor in otolaryngology at the University of Oregon Medical Center. Dr. Lindgren performed exploratory surgery and found a perilymph fistula, or a rupturing of the round window membrane between the middle and inner ear. Despite two surgeries, Marshall's condition has not markedly improved. Her lifestyle remains r
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