PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia man’s pending litigation against Lufthansa German Airlines and several other parties accuses the defendants of disregarding the airline’s policy on minor children traveling and claims his minor children were then kidnapped to Austria by his ex-wife.
Erno Ilyes of Philadelphia filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on July 10, 2017 (and an amended complaint on Aug. 13, 2017) against Dorothy Polikoff, Lisa Follmer, Travel Leaders Wide World, Wide World Travel Services Inc., Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Lionel Lauer of Philadelphia, Karen Kingman of Holland, Lufthansa German Airlines of East Meadow, N.Y., Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Inc. of Minnetonka, Minn.
Lufthansa Technik North American Holding Company of Tulsa, Okla. was also named as a defendant in the litigation, but was recently dismissed on Aug. 20.
In 2014, Erno Ilyes and Claudia Ilyes began divorce and child custody proceedings in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. On Dec. 8 of that year, the Court entered an order which stated, “No party may make a change in the residence of any child which significantly impairs the ability of the other party to exercise custodial rights without first complying with all the applicable provisions of 23 PA.C.S. Section 5337 and Pa.R.C.P. 1915.17 regarding relocation.”
On April 28, 2015, the Court approved a joint-custody arrangement between Erno and Claudia for their minor children, giving Erno physical custody of the children on every Thursday and alternating weekends, plus possession of the childrens’ passports.
That same day, the Court permitted Claudia to travel to Austria with the children from June 12, 2015, to July 6, 2015, to visit their maternal grandparents and celebrate the 90th birthday of their maternal great-grandmother, and the Court’s ruling required that the custody order be entered with the Leoben District Court of the Republic of Austria. The Austrian Court recognized the order on May 13, 2015.
Ilyes states on Lufthansa Airlines’ website, a policy states that “if a child or teenager is traveling [outside the United States] with only one parent or guardian, the notarized consent letter from the parent/guardian who is not travelling with them is required.”
When the trip took place, Lufthansa Airlines enforced its policy to be provided the pertinent documentation from the Philadelphia court permitting the children to travel outside the country. The trip proceeded without incident, with Claudia and the children leaving for Austria on June 12, 2015 and returning on July 6, 2015, the suit reads.
When the family returned to Philadelphia, the suit alleges Claudia then purchased three one-way tickets for travel later that day back to Austria from the United States. On July 7, 2015, Lufthansa issued three one-way tickets to Claudia and her two minor children, from Newark, N.J. to Vienna, Austria.
“The one-way flight on Lufthansa’s Austrian Airlines departed later that day on July 7, 2015 from Newark Liberty Airport. At the time of the booking, Lufthansa failed to recognize that Claudia Ilyes listed her minor son J.I. as an adult for the July 7, 2015 flight from Newark. Lufthansa records indicate that one of the travelers for whom Claudia Ilyes booked travel was identified as CHD/21AUG04, i.e. a minor child with a birth date of Aug. 21, 2004,” the suit says.
“Claudia Ilyes never returned home to the United States with the children, and Erno Ilyes has not been able to find them or care for them since they departed from Newark on defendant’s airline on July 7, 2015.”
Erno claims the corporate defendants violated their own policies, and the private citizens named in the lawsuit conspired with his ex-wife to kidnap his children. As a result, he says he has suffered tremendous physical, mental and emotional pain and suffering from these events.
“In adopting and publicizing this corporate policy, Lufthansa voluntarily assumed the duty to ensure that American children could not be kidnapped from the United States on its planes. On July 7, 2015, however, Lufthansa negligently failed to enforce its own corporate policy and permitted plaintiff Erno Ilyes’ minor children J.I. and S.I. to board, with one-way tickets, a non-stop flight from Newark, N.J. to Vienna, Austria without the required ‘notarized consent letter’ from the children’s father,” the suit states.
“For the small sum of $6,011.61, Lufthansa negligently looked the other way as two American children were kidnapped from U.S. soil. Lufthansa negligently failed to enforce its own well-known and well-publicized policy, causing plaintiff’s American children to be abducted from him.”
In two separate sets of preliminary objections filed on July 20 and July 25, defendants Travel Leaders Worldwide, Wide World Travel, Inc., Kingman, Lauer, Polikoff and Follmer responded to Erno’s complaint, alleging his counts of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress are insufficiently-pled and should be dismissed with prejudice in their entirety.
Follmer’s preliminary objections were overruled by Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Shelley Robins-New on Aug. 17.
For 57 separate counts of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy against the large group of defendants, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $50,000, together with interests and costs of the suit as permitted under the applicable law.
The plaintiffs are represented by Richard J. Heleniak and Thomas N. Sweeney of Messa & Associates, in Philadelphia.
The defendants are represented by Madeline M. Sherry, Stephen J. Finley Jr. and Arielle E. Katz of Gibbons, P.C., Brittany Clair Wakim of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, Robert R. Hopkins and Mitchell S. Berger of Ryan Brown Berger & Gibbons, all in Philadelphia, plus Michael L. Detweiler of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, in King of Prussia.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 170602620
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com