Attendant sues Alaska airline over stress disorder

One of the largest U.S. airline Alaska Airlines Inc. was sued by a flight attendant who claimed her stress disorder makes it impossible for her to go through airport security checkpoints.

Cheryl Gunderson said she was groped and fondled in a sexual manner while going through a checkpoint in 2003 and can't go through them anymore without suffering debilitating stress, according to a complaint filed Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

"The plaintiff is unable to even enter into close proximity to the screening area of an airport without becoming symptomatic of her post-traumatic stress disorder," her lawyer, Robert Van Siclen of Seattle, said in the lawsuit. Going through a security check "renders her unable to work as a flight attendant."