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A Korean Airlines flight attendant at the crux of last year's infamous "Nut Rage" incident has filed a lawsuit against both the carrier and the now-ex vice president who became enraged at how a package of nuts was served on a flight.
Kim Do-Hee said she was verbally and physically assaulted by Heather Cho, the former Korean Airlines vice president - and daughter of the carrier's chairman - in a suit filed Monday at the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
She is seeking unspecified damages from Cho, whom court documents said should be held "responsible for the extensive damage she has caused Ms. Kim's career, reputation and emotional well-being."
The suit added that "the evidence in this case will demonstrate that Cho's actions were not only humiliating, degrading, and damaging to Kim, but were also emblematic of Cho's unbridled arrogance and disturbing sense of entitlement."
Cho ordered a Korean Airlines plane to go back to the gate at JFK International Airport in December in a dispute over how macadamia nuts were served. Court testimony alleged that she verbally and physically abused two flight attendants.
According to the airline's manual, first class passengers are to be served the snack on a dish. Hers were distributed still in the package. Cho was apparently so enraged that she ordered the plane back to the gate at JFK to have a flight attendant removed from the aircraft.
Do-Hee testified that she and the chief flight attendant not only dropped to their knees in front of Cho asking for forgiveness, but that Cho verbally abused her and also threw a tablet at her.
Cho last month was sentenced to a year in jail. Seoul's Seobu District Court ruled that Cho "had violated a law banning passengers from pressuring crew members to deviate from the flight route," and that she "physically and verbally assaulted a female flight attendant as well as the cabin crew chief."
Korean Airlines did not comment on the pending litigation but said that Kim Do-Hee is still employed by the company.
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