The pageantry of a made-for-TV legal case was on full display yesterday, as Dr. David Dao’s lawyers used a carefully staged press conference to lay out their case against United.
Here’s the press conference — 1hr in length —
In the press conference, we learn that Dao
- Suffered a “significant” concussion
- Broke his nose
- Lost two teeth
Though not present at the conference, Dao recently checked out of a Chicago-area hospital. His daughter was present at the conference and argued that what happened to her father was inhumane.
In setting the stage to sue, Dao’s attorney Thomas Demitrio stated, “When we file our lawsuit it’s going to be because every word, every deposition is in that lawsuit for a reason.”
No lawsuit yet since lawyers are performing “due diligence” to ensure they have all the facts and gather relevant evidence. But Demetrio said the law would be built around this fundamental premise–
Here’s the law, real simple: If you’re going to eject a passenger, under no circumstances can it be done with unreasonable force or violence.
He’s right. And as is often the case, it will hinge on one word: how a jury construes unreasonable.
Sue the City of Chicago Too?
United will be sued, but the City of Chicago may be as well according to his attorneys. I’d count on that. Police officers should not be used as airline bouncers for non-safety reasons, but in all cases law enforcement personnel should be held a higher standard. By that I mean police officers should know how to diffuse a situation, not escalate it. Perhaps that was impossible in this case, but I don’t think so — Dao was too reasonable prior to the ejection.
CONCLUSION
Gloria Allred must have been busy. She will rarely miss out on an opportunity like this…
I predict a large settlement.
More coverage:
Doctor Dragged Off Oversold United Flight
United CEO Addresses Bloodied Passenger Incident
I’ll Defend Oscar’s Note to United Employees on Flight 3411
Royal Jordanian Trolls United Airlines
Is Oscar Munoz in Danger of Losing His Job?
Details Emerge on Identity of Doctor Dragged Off United Flight
What United CEO Left Out of Apology
Emirates Shames United With Powerful Ad
Must See: United CEO on Good Morning America
One New Video, Two Competing Narratives – Passenger Interaction with Police Prior to Ejection from United Flight
Why Didn’t Anyone Help the Bloody Passenger?
It will definitely be a much larger amount than a couple hundred dollars in travel vouchers that would have avoided all this mess. This will probably be a game changer for all of us that have been treated like trash by airlines and they personnel that feels empowered to make ours lives miserable. They will probably think twice before threatening passengers because they are just not in a good mood that day.
Unfortunately, settlement will be paid in United vouchers
I’m going to sue you for cleaning coffee off my monitor reading that 😛
“When we file our lawsuit it’s going to be because every word, every deposition is in that lawsuit for a reason.”
As opposed to some of the words being in there ‘cos … “my paralegal is gonna pitch an idea for a Game of Thrones spin-off”?
Re: the title, I mean, many of us think, of course they should… this man deserves every cent. And United should be punished severely for what happened. And we are still waiting for United to fully learn its lesson: I think they are a little more than halfway there (have finally fully apologized, have stated this is NOT their procedure contrary to the 1st statement, have reassured us this will never happen again). Still waiting for them to see the light and get a new CEO, and also fire a number of United employees who came up with bad policies or used poor judgment during the incident.
Re: ‘staging,’ I don’t think of the lawyer as “staging” this. I actually tend to believe more what the lawyer said re: United “staging” the apology. It feels ‘staged’ simply because of the fact that CEO Munoz has been giving contradicting statements this week and speaking from both sides of his mouth.
Re: what we learned about in the press conference re: his health conditions– we already knew most of that from watching the videos ourselves. Don’t need someone to tell us, it is obvious. I think there’s going to be a good argument made in court that he lost consciousness as he was being dragged, just by watching the video, too.
The avaiation police as they call themselves though really they are security wanted to have guns like the real police
http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/brown-aviation-cops-shoot-themselves-in-the-foot-in-gun-debate/