Earlier today I wrote about a horrific incident that happened in Houston where a United agent shoved a 71-year old man, knocking him to the ground unconscious while other employees just stood around and watched. Here’s my legal analysis: the senior citizen stands to collect even more than Dr. Dao did.
Of course the precise amount Dr. Dao received is kept under lock and key, sealed by a non-disclosure agreement, but it is safe to speculate the amount comfortably exceeds seven digits (I’ve heard rumors of 8-digits…). Let me outline why what happened to Ronald Tigne is even worse.
United Airlines’ Negligence
As a common carrier, United had a heightened duty of care in its treatment of Mr. Tigne. This does not start onboard the aircraft, but includes any airport interaction. Furthermore, this duty to care to act reasonably more is a higher standard than an average person’s duty to act reasonably. But even with the heightened standard of care, the passenger must still prove negligence.
Negligence includes the following elements–
- Duty – did United have a duty of care?
- Breach – did United breach its duty of care?
- Causation – would the injury have occurred had the breach not occurred?
- Damages – can the victim show actual damages?
I cannot think of a single legal theory in which United somehow did not have a duty of care in situation or did not breach its duty of care, causing significant harm. It wasn’t just the attack from the agent — it was the fact that five agents essentially stood around and watched, failing to intervene. The whole string of events constituted a breach of duty.
Even with Dr. Dao, one could make the argument that his “belligerence” and “failure to follow crewmember instructions” forced United to remove him. One could argue that the force used was “proportionate” to Dao’s refusal to comply with reasonable law enforcement demands.
That’s such a stretch that United settled before Dao’s case went to court, but it is plausible.
There is absolutely no legal defense that can be even floated in this case: it is why the United agent was charged with assault.
But Wait, There’s More!
Let’s count up the intentional torts that Tigne can use for as well.
- Assault
- Battery
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress
Two defenses: self-defense and reasonableness. The ex-United agent would be laughed out of court if he tried to posit either defense.
And the Kicker…
This story is trending and may go viral. I think it should. The biggest issue will not the injury itself, but by the amount of public outcry. We already say TODAY cover it earlier…where else will is spread? If it the story makes national headlines, United will want to settle it quickly.
CONCLUSION
Until this sort of culture is weeded out of United Airlines, United will suffer death by a thousand cuts. While the Dao incident heightens public awareness of what happened and thereby makes United more willing to settle, don’t think that Tigne is just trying to pull a fast one. I dare anyone to watch the video and tell me that he deserved to be knocked out, no matter what he said to the gate agent. It’s payday for Tigne.
this really begs the question – the incident happened in 2015, so why exactly did the victim stay silent the whole time ? (unless you’re insinuating UA is pulling a Bill Cosby)
the 2nd strange point was that the clip clearly showed tons of other folks around the incident – passengers, ground crew etc. apparently they all kept silent too.
Agreed, Henry. The choppy nature of the video will be scrutinized in court. How do we know that the man was actually shoved? Surely such a squabble would have involved yelling, and resulted in more attention from the surrounding agents and the public. My guess is that the gentleman had some age-related health problems or perhaps stress-induced epilepsy which led to his collapse, and the UA agent was actually trying to catch him as he fell forward.
Surely in time the truth will come out — this guy is trying to extort a settlement!
You are being quite the troublemaker today…
Someone in another forum asked the same question and was proposed that it required upwards of several months/years to subpoena the airport to provide the security footage. Presumably not just anyone can walk up to the airport/city and demand the tapes without some reason. So it may very well be likely that he’s been lawyered up for a while just to get this video evidence but it’s only now coming to light as part of the overall timeline and the Dao incident is purely coincidental. IAMNAL but that sounds plausible to my layman’s ears.
Sorry — he doesn’t get more than Dao. United may have more legal exposure in this situation than in the Dao case, but the Dao settlement wasn’t about airline’s legal exposure as much as a PR need to put the situation behind it.
In any case the extent to which the airline is culpable bears only modestly on the question of top line damages. Medical bills? Loss of income? Suffering? We’re just speculating at this point, but it’s not obvious that quantifiable damages are greater in this case.
Agree with you to an extent, but I find this event so much MORE outrageous than the Dao incident and I think the public will agree. I think it will go viral and there will be more public outcry than even in defense of Dao.
I’m not disagree with you, but I think United has learned its lesson from Dao incident. Looking at your ‘rebuttal’ article, it’s clear that there is an effort to direct the public opinion into somewhere beneficial or at least ‘controllable’.
If I am United’s counsel, I would urge United to do everything within available legal action to go to court and win the case. That includes spinning the media/news, prolonging the case with any available motion/injuction/appeal, etc.
Reason: it is evident that the attitude of FA, gate agent and or employee of United is bad, to the point of inviting legal claims with huge potential (punitive) damage, not including bad image. This case was 2 years old. There’s big possibility another and another case might show up. It might hurt United in the long run……
I don’t understand…you think United should go to court and win? You think that will result in less claims, especially if there is punitive damages awarded?
If United settled and paid, more claims will rise, especially if United lose and punished punitive damages. If United spin the story and win or at least prolonging the case, it would show that chasing money from United is not profitable in short term.
If going to court is not a viable option, at least throw a big chunk of money to spin media and stories. At least to lessen the sympathy for the victim and against United in general. Call it PR campaign or whatever, its better than losing the money in paying compensation/damages now and the future claims.
My suggestion is not even nearly fair or resemble any kind of justice. But that’s how corporate mindset works…..
Obviously the comments from people proclaiming that he “took too long” have never been involved in legal disputes or dealt with giant multinational corporations or government offices before. For all we know this gentleman started his action 2 years ago. Do you think United just rolled over and handed him inter-company documents relating to this incident or this employee? Do you think one quick phone call was all it took to get the security video recording of this taking place? Everything connected with lawsuits moves at a snail’s pace unless some outside pressure forces one side to settle. My neighbor is currently in the midst of trying to get compensation as a passenger in a car accident. The other party’s insurance declared fault the day after the initial incident, but 4 1/2 years later and at least 6 depositions down she is has nothing.
Sure there are plenty of people trying to game the system and collect money from deep-pocket companies. But a 71 year old man didn’t throw himself violently backward and knock himself out. I’m sure his attorney is using the recent United “troubles” to bolster his case. Good! He doing what he shoukd as an advocate for his client. This man should get a bundle for this outrageous behavior.
I hope the video goes viral and United pays the man a very substantial settlement. The lawsuits and settlements will continue until United (and every other airline) stops assaulting their customers. United deserves to get sued.
The conduct of the United employees is reprehensible. The incident happened in front of the ticket counter in full view of many United employees . Nobody lifted a finger to help! The culture at this company must be toxic for the employees to stand around watching a man unconscious on the floor of the terminal and to just stand there and do nothing? SMH. I sent United a message today regarding this but I’m sure they don’t care.
so what? a wrongdoing should be accounted for by the offender and not make the victim suffer twice, even if he is after the money there is nothing wrong to be compensated for being a victim.
If UA does not wrong in the first place, it has nothing to be worry about. If UA is af fault then it does not matter when he comes out or what he is after. The worst thing is to say it’s history let’s move on.
The trending phenomenon these days is not pointing fingers at the offender/intruder but the victim. This is wrong.
I was under the impression that companies are only liable for damages done by employees performing job duties. Couldn’t UA argue that the employee went rogue and they owe the victim nothing?
But in a sense he was in uniform performing his job duties (stating that he did not have time to help the man, before assaulting him).
Ah good point. Asked my lawyer friend and she said UA is definitely on the hook for breach of duty of care but probably won’t have to answer for assault/battery/etc.