Passenger attacked in viral hair-pulling incident sues Southwest, blaming the airline’s ‘free-for-all’ seating policy

An “intoxicated” Brooklyn artist arrested on expenses she assaulted a fellow passenger aboard a Southwest Airlines airplane, pulling the astonished sufferer’s hair before spitting in her face, is now dealing with additional legal woes stemming from the ugly altercation.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court and obtained first by The Independent, Kansas resident Livia Rombola says Leanna Perry not only injured her bodily in the wild incident, but left her emotionally distressed and psychologically traumatized after bystander video of the brawl went viral.

The footage exhibits Perry, 32, yelling that she doesn’t need to sit next to “a f**king fat lady,” denigrating Rombola as a “fat-ass b***h,” and an “ugly-ass b***h.” The horrifying state of affairs only ended when Perry was zip-tied, positioned on a gurney, and hauled off the plane by police.

In the aftermath, “repeated exposure” to the footage, along with myriad news articles and online commentary, have triggered Rombola acute misery, along with “reputational harm, professional embarrassment, and social stigma,” according to her grievance.

The lawsuit also names the low-cost airline as a defendant, blaming its policy of unassigned seating for encouraging the chaos. On Tuesday, Rombola’s attorney, Joel J. Turney, told The Independent, “The plaintiff has a strong case against Southwest, especially with respect to their unusual free-for-all seating policy, which was a substantial factor in the cause of the incident.”

Perry didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark. A Southwest spokeswoman declined to remark.

Rombola’s grievance argues that open-seating was “a clear departure from the industry standards of other airlines,” and that the system “created a foreseeable hazard of passenger conflict.”

Southwest’s “lack of proactive seat assignment directly contributed to the confrontation,” according to the grievance, saying it advantages only the airline but “expos[es] passengers” to potential points such as the one between Perry and Rombola.

Although the open-seating method was well-liked with some, the stress of jockeying for a spot was an excessive amount of for many and has led to brawls between vacationers. Last month, Southwest announced it will be phasing out the policy in January 2026, saying 80 % of its clients most popular an assigned seat.

In a assertion at the time, a Southwest Airlines spokesperson told the New York Post, “The customer involved in the incident was removed from the flight and denied boarding. We commend our team for their professionalism during the incident.”

So far in 2025, federal authorities have fielded 1,058 stories of unruly passengers aboard business plane.

The assault onboard the Southwest flight occurred on June 17, shortly after 1 a.m., according to Rombola’s grievance. During boarding, the grievance says an “erratic” Perry “initially caused a disruption by rejecting an available seat near a different individual.”

Perry then “proceeded through the cabin and ultimately chose to sit near [Rombola], where she… initiated a violent and unprovoked confrontation, involving physical assault, battery, spitting, and the use of slurs.”

In video of the incident posted online, Perry could be seen standing by Rombola and sneering, “Yeah, I’m sorry – I didn’t want to sit next to a f*****g fat lady.”

Perry, an illustrator who has achieved work for top manufacturers including Adidas, Hot Topic, and Maybelline, appeared to be “possessed” during the epic meltdown, witnesses said.

Perry was drunk, and never ought to have been permitted to get on flight quantity 779 from LaGuardia Airport in Queens to Kansas City, Missouri, according to the grievance.

FAA rules prohibit business carriers from permitting intoxicated passengers onboard.

The confrontation soon spiraled out of control, with Perry yelling, “Shut the f**k up, don’t f**king touch me!” while involved crew members and bystanders tried to intervene.

“Let go of her hair!” one crew member instructs Perry, who ignores the command.

Perry continued her harangue, shrieking, “Look at this fat-ass b****h, you can’t even see her stomach,” as Rombola sits by quietly.

“Your boyfriend’s d**k is like, two inches big,” Perry shouts at Rombola. “It’s embarrassing. I’m so sorry about your boyfriend.”

This went on for a number of minutes, the video exhibits, with Perry calling Rombola an “ugly-ass b***h,” until members of the cabin crew, along with a couple of helpful passengers, managed to zip-tie Perry’s arms behind her back. Perry is then introduced down to the ground, after which she begins kicking her legs in the air and screaming, “F**k you, f**k you, f**k you!”

When police arrived, they strapped Perry down and wheeled her off the airplane, after which she was charged with quite a few misdemeanors that each carry up to a yr in jail: obstructing governmental administration; three counts of tried assault with intent to trigger bodily injury; disorderly conduct; and three counts of harassment.

Appearing before a decide later that morning for arraignment, Perry pleaded not guilty to the expenses.

Perry’s lawyer in the prison case, Legal Aid attorney Carl Tropnas, didn’t reply on Tuesday to a request for remark.

Rombola is looking for an award of damages to be decided in court. Perry, who now has roughly three weeks to reply to Rombola’s lawsuit, is due back in Queens Criminal Court on September 3.