Seattle-based Alaska airlines has recently been hit with a multi-million dollar wrongful death lawsuit following the death of a Seattle, Washington-bound passenger back in June. 75 year-old Bernice Kekona was flying from Maui, Hawaii back home to Seattle, Washington when she took a fatal fall in her wheelchair during her layover at the Portland International Airport.

The Maui News reports on the details of the wrongful death suit, “Kekona was searching for her connecting flight when she accidentally rolled her wheelchair down an escalator and fell down 21 steps at the Portland International Airport in Oregon. Three months after the 75-year old Kekona died from injuries suffered in the fall. Her family is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Alaska Airlines and the wheelchair provider Huntleigh USA for failing to escort Kekona to her flight- after the family requested and confirmed gate-to-gate assistance multiple times.”

During the three months leading up to her death and then her burial and funeral, Kekona had close to $300,000 in bills. Whether or not Alaska or the wheelchair company are responsible for this death depends on a lot of factors specific to the case, including further investigation into whether the assistance service was requested (Alaska claims it was not properly requested) and whether Kekona refused help (Alaska claims she did). Airplane injuries and deaths are often very complicated personal injury cases.

As was the case for Kekona, a lot of wrongful death cases start as personal injury and turn into a death. And in these types of cases, the deceased and their family sustain major medical bills and funeral expenses that the responsible party should pay for. For some, a personal injury suit is already filed and then there is a death. Whatever the scenario, our goal as your wrongful death attorneys is to make sure that you are appropriately compensated for your losses, financial and otherwise. A wrongful death suit will never bring your loved one back but it can help with the financial loss and expenses incurred as well as provide a sense of justice in holding the wrongdoer responsible. If you have lost a loved one because of the wrongdoing of someone else, give Walch Law a call immediately to discuss your case further. Time is of the essence when it comes to meeting the important filing deadlines in California wrongful death and personal injury cases and you do not want to miss your opportunity to file suit. Get in touch with us today.