UPDATE: American Airlines has backtracked, revising its original defense filing which sought to blame a 9-year-old girl for failing to notice a mobile phone that a flight attendant had hidden to secretly record her in an aircraft lavatory.
“Our outside legal counsel retained with our insurance company made an error in this filing. The included defense is not representative of our airline and we have directed it be amended this morning. We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously. Our core mission is to care for people — and the foundation of that is the safety and security of our customers and team.”
The change of heart comes after intense public scrutiny over the original filing, which sought to blame the victim for the crime perpetrated against her. The mother of “Mary Doe” expressed outrage over the conduct of American Airlines:
“Instead of taking responsibility for this awful event, American Airlines is actually blaming our daughter for being filmed. How in good conscience could they even make such a suggestion? It both shocks and angers us. American Airlines has no shame.”
But the attorney representing the family has said “the bell cannot be unwrung. They should never have taken such a position in the first place.”
The original story from May 22, 2024 is below.
According to American Airlines, a 9-year-old “should have known” that a flight attendant was secretly recording her in an aircraft lavatory and therefore it should not be held liable. I find the defense theory put forward by lawyers representing American Airlines to be unreasonable and shameful.
American Airlines Thinks 9-Year-Old Should Have Known She Was Being Filmed In Aircraft Lavatory
I’ve written extensively about the case of 37-year-old Estes Carter Thompson III, who stands accused of a litany of crimes including surreptitiously filming multiple children in aircraft lavatories. He pleaded not guilty this week and American Airlines has also weighed in with its own defense theory:
Defendant would show that any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been sustained by Plaintiff, Mary Doe, were proximately caused by Plaintiff’s own fault and negligence,” American Airlines’ lawyers wrote in their defense filing.
The airline’s attorneys added about the 9-year-old girl using “the compromised lavatory” on the plane: “She knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”
I am an attorney and although this is not my area of practice, I certainly am familiar with the idea that you assert every possible legal defense or else you forfeit the right to do so. So often you will see the “kitchen sink” approach to affirmative defenses in these sorts of lawsuits, so in that sense this claim is not out of the ordinary.
But not only are the optics particularly bad here, but the defense really strikes me as disgusting. Yes, my 4-year-old and my 7-year-old are quite handy with mobile phones. My daughter, who just turned four last week, watched my wife key in her password, memorized it, and then took her phone, logged in, found the YouTube app, and used the voice feature to search for Sendung Mit Der Maus, her favorite German program.
I would certainly expect my 7-year-old to notice a bright light…but that argument is based on an assumption.
Just because the light was turned on in some cases does not mean it was turned on in others.
And so while there may be exceptions in which you would think the kids of today understand how to recognize a phone, placing the blame on a 9-year-old is insulting and shameful…we have photographic evidence of the crime but no basis to evaluate how visible the phone was in the lavatory.
And AA’s additional line of defense that it is not “liable for acts or crimes of its employees” severely undermines the idea that flight attendants are present for our safety. Consider that in addition to the lavatory pictures, there were HUNDREDS of pictures found that this creep had taken of sleeping children onboard. Where were his colleagues?
CONCLUSION
It’s not for me to determine what level of harm the children who were clandestinely photographed suffered…a jury can do that. But American Airlines should be rightly scorned for trying to argue it has no blame for the conduct of its flight attendant and the fact that its other flight attendants failed to note what their colleague was doing.
This society has evolved so much but one thing that is still strictly off-limits is child porn. I’m sick of the charges that these families are simply ambulance chasers. On the contrary, these families have every right to be outraged over what happened and hold relevant parties accountable.
> Read More:
- Teenage Girl Found Hidden Camera On American Airlines Aircraft Toilet (Photo)
- Family Sues American Airlines Over Flight Attendant Who Placed Camera In Lavatory To Surreptitiously Film Teenage Girl
- American Airlines Flight Attendant Arrested After Surreptitiously Filming Multiple Teenage Passengers In Lavatory
Ok, that’s it! I am never stepping foot on an American Airlines plane again. This is so disgusting to read.
@NoWayAA … +1 . Exactly so .
I with you.
OMG!! I’m a retired attorney, quite old and I still encounter travelers my age who don’t know how the cameras on their phones work or how to send photos to their grandchildren. Some of them fly Delta. How are children, in Delta’s mind—and on Delta’s planes, to be held to a higher standard than their adult passengers?! I understand standard defense pleadings, but who was the senior law partner that didn’t proof read the first year’s associate work before filing the response to the lawsuit?
Sorry, I meant American, not Delta. My bad. I’m currently with travelers who are traveling with Delta and complaining, but their complaints do not rise to anywhere near this level.
This is the direct result of an overly litigious society.
You should really be upset with those involved in frivolous lawsuits and those on juries who have awarded ridiculous damages.
So now blame a litigious society when the “nine year old should know better” defense is clearly not working.
@Stuart … +1 .
Although a pretty bad case to make the argument on, I fundamentally agree with JH. American Airlines has deep pockets, so the lawyers are smelling $$$. Go after the preparator, and hand him a stiff sentence if found guilty. If AA in some way colluded or facilitated him, sure, go after AA. But AA likely had no involvement in the crime. So it’s a money grab. We gotta sue the shit out of anything and everyone. Because money makes things right in this culture. So defense counsel has to try anything and everything. And this is the result we get.
@ JH
um. When your image is recorded in an place where privacy is expected, then sold on the web, where you will never be assured it is gone. And then you discover this had been an ongoing problem. Please get back and explain you are fine with that and no punitive damage is needed to assure yourself it won’t happen again next week. All the best.
WTF. You really consider suing American Airlines over a child being filmed in an airplane bathroom by one of its employees to overly litigious?
Talking of disgusting and outrageous illogical theories read the police investigation of the murder of 19 years old Noah Presgrove in Terral,Oklahoma.
If I was not appalled enough already, the idea that a nine year old child should have to recognize the depravity that American Airlines failed to detect is mind boggling. For every questioning, deposition, and court appearance a financial award to a medical trust to cover future help needs to be paid. I hope every child advocacy group and agency climbs all over this “legal” defense. Bad publicity is deserved
American Airlines has been selling its commitment to child trafficking for years and yet no one recognized a serial exploiter in their midst. Shame on all involved in this story. You all are guilty now.
@Maryland ,,, +1 . Well said .
I’m sorry to say this again because I know I’ve made the suggestion before. You really need a new feature on this site where you tell us the story but then let us guess which domestic carrier it is! Granted, whenever it is bottom of the barrel behavior, AA is always a pretty good bet. From their Miami hub which is about as organized and efficient as a soccer riot in a third world nation during a hurricane, to their seemingly open distain of paying passengers even in first, AA truly marches to the beat of their own drummer. Granted, that drummer is a crack addicted ex-con living under a bridge and throwing trash at passing cars, but still.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I once had a crew in “Flagship” first from MIA to LAX which was absolutely and truly sensational in every aspect. Once. Granted, the front desk to check in to the “Flagship” lounge was about as friendly as being arraigned in court but well, that’s AA in MIA!
Pls pls pls all over world let’s avoid such disgusting airline as much we can, nothing deserve for such shameful behavior and conduct!!!!! World is rolling in a spiral of no sense.
@nunzio … +1 .
If I was on the jury, I wouldn’t hold AA liable UNLESS they had short cut background checks or looked the other way at bad employee behavior. What’s next? Suing McD’s if one of their employees does something similar?
While I applaud the girl and her family for being pro-active and bringing the issue to the attention of the airline to remediate, their behavior since then appears to be that they’re trolling for a payout. Note: I’m not some “limited government free market” corporate shill: I think most corporations now are wildly underregulated and there’s a lack of employee protections, but in this case, so far, I sympathize with AA.
An employee is a representative of the company while on the “clock”. So yes American, and McDonald, are/would be responsible.
Why is we don’t want corporations to be accountable? For anything irresponsible, greedy or immoral that they do?
You are right. The company I’m sure has code of conduct rules.
Japan has companys that you would lose your job if you cheat on your wife or husband.
Break the code you are history.
I learn this from my dad and uncle sam. Peace
The victim shaming is revolting. The smart – and sensible – thing for American to do would be to settle quietly and very very quickly after the incident. In what way is publicly blaming a child for being a victim of their employee something that AA wants to be known for?
@Christian … +1 . Also , I would award the victim and family who wisely reported matter this a Good Citizen Medal .
Isn’t the concept of vicarious liability of the employer for actions of its staff enshrined in US law? It definitely applies here in the UK, plus, even if it’s not clear cut over there, I really cannot see how an organisation could escape from it in an environment where customers have a positive obligation to follow staff instructions.
@PM … +1 . Well said .
Whether they have a position or not, does AA really want to go down this path? Seems any attorney would advocate being quiet, scrambling for a settlement, and doing anything to avoid this being discussed further. Wow, the moxie…both of the attorney AND those at AA thinking this was a good idea.
Wow, they seriously want to litigate this? Just open up that check book, pay the family off, and move on.
I personally don’t blame AA for this filing. As others have noted it’s part of a kitchen sink method of litigation and appears to have been done by an outside council retained by Americans liability insurance to defend AA.
That being said AA should have immediately terminated this outside council and distanced itself from them. That this went out there and it took more than a day for AA to react is unbelievable.
Second whoever the lawyer in question that made this filing is that person is the perfect t example of why so many people view lawyers with disgust. To even think of blaming a 9 year old for being a victim is just utterly unbelievable and disgusting.
However, given how long it took AA to react to this and the fact that they haven’t announced that they have terminated the legal council involved I do feel they deserve to sit squarely on the hot seat for this one.
As others have said this should never go to trial. Forget legal filings etc just settle up and own what happened. The cost of doing so is far less than the reputational damage that comes from stuff like this. Settling an event like this shouldn’t take more than one meeting especially considering what it would cost AA in terms of negative publicity if they went to trial.
“Our outside legal counsel retained with our insurance company”
‘our corporate legal department failed to supervise outside counsel but will face no repercussions’
Love your “FakeGary Leff” account on X. Allows you to say what you are really thinking without it coming from you. Great job!
What happened to “see something say something?” Only applies to racist assumptions about passengers?
@ James
My question also. How this pervert was able to photograph children in cabin repeatedly without another FA taking notice is baffling to me. ( on a playground police would have called).
What’s oriignal?
“i” don’t know.
” the idea that a nine year old child should have to recognize the depravity that American Airlines failed to detect is mind boggling”
No one could have said it better than this. Thank you.
@ cairns
Thank you. Everyone needs to pursue justice. Sometimes it looks like it’s about financial gain, but, I would like to believe nobody would wish this upon anyone. It is about change.
Plus I would like to use a restroom with a search.
Sue the man’s high school and college, too. While you’re at ot, sue the man’s doctor for failing to diagnose the man. Sue his parents for raising such a monster. Sue the man’s colleagues. Sue the other passengers for not saying anything Sue, sue, sue.,