CAMDEN -- A vengeful American Airlines flight attendant "viciously" ruined a woman's wedding dress with red wine as she flew to her wedding in Jamaica, the bride claims in a new lawsuit.
Yewande Oteh and her family are suing the airline, arguing that it failed to prevent or investigate the 2015 incident.
Oteh claims she watched as flight attendant Melanie Masters put something into the overhead bin where her dress was stored by itself shortly after they had a heated exchange about where her gown could be stored.
The destruction of the dress a week before the wedding derailed the celebrations, made Oteh distraught and physically sick, and "has caused a lifetime of damage," the suit says.
Oteh, a recent law school graduate, lived in Cherry Hill at the time. Oteh's mother and the attorney representing the family in the suit, Yvette Sterling, told The Courier-Post that Oteh now lives in Boston.
Oteh, her husband, Chidi Oteh, and their 9-month-old son were flying from Philadelphia to Jamaica, where her grandparents live, for their wedding Aug. 14, 2015. The suit says that a ticket agent at the airport told Oteh that she should carry her dress onto the plane and hang it a closet.
But Oteh claims that when she boarded, carrying her baby and the dress in a carrier bag, and asked Masters where she could hang the dress, Masters "became indignant and agitated, and began to talk to plaintiff in a hostile aggressive way, instructing her that the closet space was not for passengers."
As instructed, Oteh instead found a space in an empty overhead bin in first class.
The engaged couple took their seats and Oteh watched the overhead bin carefully, "fearful that flight attendant may take out the aggression on herself, her wedding gown, or her family," according to the suit.
At one point, she claims she witnessed Masters "open the bin with her right hand, while something was occupying her left hand" that Oteh couldn't identify. Later in the flight, Masters and another flight attendant again opened the bin holding the dress, the suit says.
When they landed, the couple was dismayed to find that the dress was soaked through with what they later determined was red wine, according to the suit.
There was no bottle or other source of the wine in the compartment and they were sure that no one had accessed the overhead bin other than Masters. They sought out airport police, who they said stopped the plane as it was departing and questioned the flight staff. The suit does not say what became of that investigation.
The lawsuit says Oteh was so stressed by the loss of the dress, which could not be cleaned before the wedding, if at all, that she was sick and missed some of the wedding activities that week.
She said she also spent hours looking for a new dress in Jamaica before her sister flew back to Florida and bought several for her to choose from.
"Plaintiff failed to enjoy the wedding as she was in a dress that was not the one she spent months looking for," Sterling wrote in the lawsuit.
The family claims that American Airlines didn't properly investigate the complaints filed against Masters and denied wrongdoing. Asked to respond, a spokesperson for the airline said only that it was reviewing the lawsuit.
The family is seeking damages as well as costs and fees, claiming the airline was negligent and intentionally inflicted emotional distress and caused Oteh "physical and mental injuries."
The suit also names as a defendant US Airways Group, which merged with after the incident in 2015. Masters is not named as a defendant.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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