A company that provides passenger assistance to Delta Air will remain a defendant in a lawsuit brought by relatives of a 78-year-old man who died in 2021 about six weeks after his scooter fell off a shuttle bus ramp at Los Angeles International Airport, a judge has ruled.
Elva Lopez Navarro, widow of the late Ricardo Lopez Rangel, her son and two daughters brought the Torrance Superior Court lawsuit in April 2022, alleging premises liability and negligence. Along with Delta, the lawsuit names as defendants ERMC Aviation LLC and ABM Aviation Inc., which facilitates passenger service as well as such airline amenities as cabin cleaning.
On Monday, Judge David K. Reinert rejected ERMC’s argument that the part of the case against the company should be dismissed wholly or in part because of a lack of triable issues. In his ruling, Reinert said ERMC, which Delta contracts with for passenger assistance, should remain in the case. The judge said the firm “assumed” an obligation of care in the decedent’s handling because Rangel was provided an accommodation — he and his scooter were being boarded on a shuttle bus and that meant he did not have to wait in line with other passengers.
ERMC employees were assigned to help passengers who needed assistance to transfer to shuttle bus. ERMC’s attorneys had argued in their court papers that neither Rangel nor his relatives asked for assistance and that therefore no breach of a duty of care to the decedent occurred.
But the plaintiffs contend the shuttle bus ramp was at an unreasonably high incline amounting to an “unsafe, dangerous, condition” and that the ERMC workers who assisted Rangel were negligently hired, trained and supervised, all contributing factors to his scooter’s fall from the incline.