A man who alleged Alaska Airlines Inc. denied his family permission to board a return flight from Mexico to Los Angeles in 2022 unless their toddler received the coronavirus vaccination has dropped his lawsuit.
Plaintiff Marc Lazo filed court papers Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jill Feeney asking that his lawsuit be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. The court papers do not state if Lazo settled the case or is not pursuing it for other reasons.
Lazo alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and violation of the state Business and Professions Code while seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
In their court papers, Alaska Airlines attorneys maintained any damages Lazo suffered were due to “the negligence or other wrongful acts or omissions of persons or entities other than Alaska Airlines.”
Lazo, his wife and their two children attempted to board a flight headed from Puerto Vallarta to LAX on April 23, 2022, when an Alaska Airlines agent stopped them and demanded their then-2-year-old child be vaccinated first, according to Lazo’s court papers, which do not state the child’s gender.
When Lazo told the agent that his family had an important event to attend in Los Angeles that evening, she told him there was an off-site testing location and that they could all still get on the aircraft if the child tested negative, Lazo’s suit filed last Aug. 1 stated.
Lazo left with the 2-year-old to get the COVID test, causing the plaintiff extreme distress, while his wife stayed at the airport gate with their other child, who was less than a year old, according to Lazo’s suit.
Lazo returned with the vaccinated older child along with proof of a negative test, but the family still was not allowed to get on the flight by an Alaska Airlines employee who stepped outside of a kiosk, pointed a finger at him, yelled and temporarily prevented him from moving so he could put his screaming 2-year-old in a stroller, according to Lazo’s complaint. The employee eventually calmed down and went back behind the kiosk, Lazo’s court papers stated.
With the intervention of a customer service agent, Lazo and his family were able to board a flight four hours after their scheduled departure time, making it too late for them to attend the event they planned to attend in Los Angeles, according to Lazo’s court papers, which further state that the events caused him humiliation and emotional distress.