hmmm....does not meet the smell test does it? -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Roger & Amanda La France Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 1:14 PM To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU Subject: Judge Dismisses Stroke Lawsuit Judge Dismisses Stroke Lawsuit Tuesday January 22, 2:32 PM EST TULSA, Okla., Jan 22, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Continental Airlines of continuing a three-hour flight after a passenger suffered a stroke. An attorney for the passenger's widow would not say if the airline had offered a settlement. Mary McCaskey claimed that her husband, Ralph McCaskey, 77, suffered a stroke 20 to 30 minutes into a flight from Houston to Newark, N.J., in 1998. She said she sat helpless for hours before the plane landed. Airline personnel gave him oxygen but no other assistance, the lawsuit claimed. Ralph McCaskey died 16 days later from complications from the stroke, according to the lawsuit. Mary McCaskey's attorney Bruce McKenna would not say why the lawsuit was dismissed Jan. 11 or whether a settlement had been reached. However, a court document filed Jan. 10 said Mary McCaskey did not object to the dismissal. Continental did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday. McCaskey sued both Continental and the airline's chairman, Gordon Bethune. The lawsuit alleged that Bethune was on the flight "and was expressly aware of Ralph McCaskey's condition at or shortly after its onset and entered the cockpit during a time when decisions regarding Ralph McCaskey's care and medical needs were ongoing."