A chef from California’s Central Coast who had two strokes while traveling internationally on American Airlines was awarded more than $9 million after a federal jury concluded employees failed to follow their own protocols to help him. In November 2021, Jesus Plasencia, a chef from Watsonville who was 67 at the time, was traveling with his wife, Ana Maria Marcela Tavantzis, on a flight to ...

American Airlines aircraft on the Tarmac and in the air at LAX in Los Angeles, on Nov. 26, 2018.

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

A chef from California’s Central Coast who had two strokes while traveling internationally on American Airlines was awarded more than $9 million after a federal jury concluded employees failed to follow their own protocols to help him.

In November 2021, Jesus Plasencia, a chef from Watsonville who was 67 at the time, was traveling with his wife, Ana Maria Marcela Tavantzis, on a flight to Madrid from Miami, according to a complaint they filed in federal civil court.

While the plane was still at the gate, Plasencia suffered a “mini stroke” and temporarily lost the ability to speak or pick up his phone, according to the complaint. His wife alerted a flight attendant and the pilot but instead of alerting medical personnel and following company policy, the lawsuit said the pilot dismissed her concerns, “joked with Plasencia, and cleared him for take-off.”

Plasencia then had a stroke while the plane was in the air; he was hospitalized after the plane landed in Spain and was in critical condition for more than three weeks before he went back to the U.S., according to court documents. He can’t speak or write and now “depends entirely on daily, significant, around-the-clock, in-home care and intensive rehabilitation,” according to the lawsuit.

On Thursday, a federal jury in San Jose said American Airlines was on the hook for $9.6 million for its employees failing to follow company protocol in the incident.

According to the complaint filed in 2023, the flight crew had asked other passengers to monitor Plasencia after he suffered a stroke during the flight, but didn’t tell the pilot about the medical emergency, so the flight wasn’t diverted.

The couple argued that because American Airlines crew hadn’t followed protocols, Plasencia was delayed getting care for nearly eight hours and could’ve potentially had a better outcome, according to the lawsuit.

“The safety and well-being of our passengers is our highest priority,” American Airlines said in a statement. “While we respect the jury’s decision, we disagree with the verdict and are currently evaluating next steps.”

Darren Nicholson of Burns Charest, who represented the couple in the lawsuit, argued that the airline didn’t follow stroke protocol, which calls for immediate medical assistance and diverting the aircraft.

“It is shocking that American Airlines responded so poorly to a medical emergency like this,” he said in a statement.

American Airlines was found liable by the jurors under the Montreal Convention, an international treaty that governs international air travel.

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