ABU DHABI // Etihad Airways is to fight a lawsuit filed by a passenger who claims he was left with back pain because he was seated beside an overweight man on a 14-hour flight from the UAE to Sydney.

James Bassos, of Brisbane, is suing the Abu Dhabi airline in the Queensland state district court over a permanent back injury he said he suffered while trying to avoid his fellow passenger on the 2011 flight.

The 38-year-old interior designer is claiming $227,000 Australian dollars (Dh607,850) for medical expenses and lost earnings.

Etihad predicted in a statement on Friday that a court-ordered medical assessment would bring the case to a swift end and said it would continue to oppose the action.

The airline this week failed to have the case thrown out of court. In refusing the application, judge Fleur Kingham said on Wednesday that she was not convinced that Mr Bassos had no chance of winning. She ordered his medical examination in Brisbane, AP reported.

An Etihad Airways spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment in detail on this case as legal proceedings are underway.

“Etihad Airways will continue to oppose the action and now that Mr Bassos will finally face a medical assessment in December 2015, as directed by court, we believe that the matter will proceed to an early conclusion.

“The safety and comfort of Etihad Airways’ passengers and crew is of paramount importance and the airline has a zero-tolerance policy towards unruly behaviour.”

Mr Bassos said he was forced to twist and contort his body to avoid touching the “grossly overweight” passenger, who was spilling into Mr Bassos’s side of the dividing arm rest.

He said that after five hours, he felt pain and discomfort in his back and asked to be moved but was told the flight was full.

Half an hour later as the pain became worse, Mr Bassos asked again to be moved and was allowed to sit in a crew seat at the back of the plane, his claim said.

But Mr Bassos said he twice had to return to his allocated seat, including for the final 90 minutes before landing, for safety reasons.

Etihad said it was common for a passenger to be seated next to an overweight passenger on a fully booked flight.

Mr Bassos’s claim, filed in 2012, states that he suffers back pain and that his sleep and concentration had been affected and he had been forced to take time off work.

Mr Bassos could not be immediately contacted on Friday.

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