New York ( CNN ) Korean Air 's `` nut rage '' case has made its way back to New York , with the flight attendant who served the offending macadamia nuts filing a lawsuit against the airline and a former executive . Heather Cho , a Korean Air executive and daughter of the airline 's chairman , is serving a one-year prison sentence in South Korea after throwing a fit on a New York flight because her nuts were served in a bag instead of a porcelain bowl . In a civil suit filed this week in state Supreme Court in Queens , New York , Cho -- whose name is listed as Heather Hyun A-Cho in court documents -- is accused of `` verbally and physically '' attacking flight attendant Kim Do-hee in December on a Seoul-bound flight departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport . At the time , Cho , who was seated in first class , demanded that the plane go back to the gate so Kim could be kicked off the flight , according to the lawsuit . The episode , which was widely reported , was a `` prime example of the corrupt and entitled behavior of the members of elite South Korean business families , '' the lawsuit states . The suit describes Cho as the `` princess '' of the `` so-called royal '' family that controls Korean Air , and says the executive screamed obscenities at Kim before hitting , shoving and threatening the flight attendant . On her return to South Korea , the lawsuit states , Kim was `` pressured to lie to government regulators in order to cover up the incident , and to appear in public with Cho as part of an orchestrated effort to try and rehabilitate Cho 's public image . '' A South Korean judge last month said that Cho 's actions threatened the development of the aviation industry and inconvenienced passengers , and ruled that she violated aviation law , changed a flight path and interfered with operations . She was sentenced to a year in jail . The judge blasted Cho for her conduct , saying that she had used the plane as if it were her personal car and that as a passenger , she could not override crew members and give orders during a flight . The case is emblematic of growing resentment over the perceived privileges and nepotism of the families that control the country 's top companies . Cho resigned as vice president at the company a few days after the incident and publicly apologized , saying she accepted `` full responsibility . '' Last month , she appeared in a South Korean court wearing a green prison uniform . She gazed downward . Her hair hung in her face . `` I do n't know how to find forgiveness , '' she said . Park Chang-jin , the chief steward who was booted from the flight instead of Kim , has said the former executive treated crew members like `` feudal slaves . '' Park and Kim , the flight attendant who served the nuts , had knelt in front of Cho in apology . Kim testified that Cho berated them about the service and later shoved and cursed her . When the flight arrived in Korea , the flight attendant said another airline manager , Yeo Woon-jin , pressured her not to talk to investigators about Cho 's physically abusing her and Park . Yeo was found guilty of interfering with an investigation . Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho apologized to the flight attendants and the public following the public uproar over the incident . In a statement , Kim 's lawyer , Andrew Weinstein , called Heather Cho 's behavior `` humiliating , degrading , and damaging to Ms. Kim , but ... also emblematic of Ms. Cho 's unbridled arrogance and disturbing sense of entitlement . '' The incident has damaged Kim 's `` career , reputation , and emotional well-being , '' and efforts to settle the case out of court have been unsuccessful , according to the statement -- which did n't specify how much was being sought in damages . Attempts to reach representatives of Korean Air as well as lawyers for Cho were unsuccessful . CNN 's David Shortell contributed to this report .
A former Korean Air executive is named in lawsuit after interrupting a flight over how nuts were served . Heather Cho is accused of `` verbally and physically '' attacking flight attendant Do Hee Kim . Korean Air is also named in the lawsuit .