Lombardi employed different methods to try easing the cat’s discomfort but to “no avail,” as Layla’s “walnut-sized brain” had already been overcome by “pure debilitating terror.”
In an unusual lawsuit, a Seattle woman claims that her cat’s last days were spent in “terror” as Blue Angels fighter pilots conducted repeated flyovers in anticipation of the annual Boeing Seafair Air Show.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of plaintiff Lauren Ann Lombardi, also accuses the Blue Angels of ignoring complaints and limiting Lombardi’s social media interactions in an act of “cowardly censorship.”
Lombardi’s lawsuit notes that the cat, Layla, was 14 years old when she died last August following a protracted battle with heart disease. In court filings, Lombardo, a paralegal, said that Layla’s medical woes were almost certainly exacerbated by flyovers conducted in August 2024 and in August of the preceding year.
NBC News reports that Lombardi had shared her concerns about the Blue Angels in 2023, when she posted a profanity-laden message on the squadron’s Instagram page.
“Stop with your F—–g bull—- you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife,” Lombardi wrote. “Nobody gives a f— about your stupid little planes.”
Lombardi was blocked by the Blue Angels shortly afterward.
Last year, also in August, Lombardi again took to social media, where she tried to send a direct message to the Angels’ account, calling the squadron and its pilots “cowards.”
The lawsuit states that this one-word message “appeared to send but was never delivered due to the blocking.”
Lombardi is being represented by her husband, attorney Nacim Bouchtia, who is named as Layla’s “human father” in the 14-year-old cat’s obituary.
In the complaint, Bouchtia claims that, though Layla was heavily sedated during last year’s Seafair show, the cat’s “primitive limbic system overruled her medication and she fled in primal panic beneath furniture, her labored breathing escalating to clinically dangerous levels.”
Lombardi employed different methods to try easing the cat’s discomfort but to “no avail,” as Layla’s “walnut-sized brain” had already been overcome by “pure debilitating terror.”
The lawsuit names defendants including the Blue Angels, squadron Cmdr. Adam Bryan, and social media administrator Lt. Ben Bushong. Lombardi is seeking legal fees and an order instructing the Blue Angels to remove the social media ban and refrain from blocking others “on the basis of viewpoint.”
“Layla was the greatest cat that ever lived and her final days on this Earth were pockmarked by debilitating terror brought on my [sic] the actions of the United State [sic] Government,” the lawsuit alleges.
Sources
Elderly Seattle cat suffers ‘terror’ from Blue Angels, feline’s owner says in lawsuit
Seattle woman sues Blue Angels, says military jets terrorized her dying cat and silenced her online
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