Photo by Miguel Angel Sanz on Unsplash
American Airlines Claims It Was an Error To Blame Child in Hidden Camera Lawsuit
May 23, 2024
American Airlines is backtracking after a legal filing blaming a 9-year-old girl for being allegedly filmed in an airplane bathroom made headlines, causing outrage amongst consumers.
According to The Boston Herald, the Dallas-Fort Worth-based airline is facing a myriad of civil lawsuits after a flight attendant, Estes Carter Thompson III, was arrested after he was allegedly caught filming a 14-year-old girl while she was using the airplane bathroom. A subsequent investigation revealed that Thompson also allegedly had recordings of at least four other passengers, including a 9-year-old girl who was flying on the airline from Texas to go to Disneyland.
The 9-year-old girl’s family, whose identity is not being revealed, is suing American Airlines, claiming that the company knew, or should have known, that Thompson “was a danger” to their daughter and other passengers.
In court papers filed this week, however, an attorney for American Airlines placed the blame on the 9-year-old girl, claiming that she should have known the bathroom was compromised by a recording device.
“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,” the filing read. “She knew or should have known [the bathroom] contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”
The subsequent headlines expressed outrage at American Airlines for this stance, prompting the girl’s family to release a statement to NBC Boston that read: “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.”
In response, the airline released a statement denouncing the filing. “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.”
This is just the latest round of bad publicity being faced by American Airlines, which recently came under fire after it joined Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue, and Hawaiian Airlines to file a suit against the Department of Transportation (DOT) for its new regulations against so-called “junk fees.” The airlines are being backed by the lobbying group, Airlines for America, in their lawsuit.
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