JACKSON — A Natchez man is suing American Airlines and the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport claiming he was bitten by a brown recluse spider while waiting for a flight in 2016.

Marcus Fleming is seeking $500,000 from American Airlines. The case was originally filed in Rankin County, but has been transferred to U.S. District Court in Jackson.

Fleming said in the lawsuit that he was a passenger on Flight 3798 from the Jackson airport on Sept. 6, 2016, when he was bitten by a brown recluse spider.

The lawsuit says Fleming alerted a flight attendant that he had been bitten by something and that the flight attendant said it was probably a mosquito. The lawsuit says that after the plane landed, Fleming then noticed pain in his hand and that his thumb had changed colors.

Fleming then consulted with a physician, who Fleming alleges determined that surgery was needed immediately in order to avoid amputating his thumb.

Fleming’s lawsuit said American Airlines negligently maintained the premises by allowing the brown recluse spider to injure its passengers.

The lawsuit also claims American Airlines failed to warn Fleming of the dangerous conditions that it should have known existed or likely would exist.

“American Airlines is a commercial airline and owed a duty to the public, including Fleming, to exercise due care on its flights to ensure the area in which their passengers sat were safe,” the lawsuit said.

A phone call to Fleming’s lawyer Jeffery Harness was not returned Wednesday.