American Airlines Blames 9-Year-Old Girl For Being Filmed In Plane Bathroom
The airline argues the girl should have been aware of the recording device inside the airplane lavatory.
American Airlines, embroiled in legal battles after a flight attendant allegedly filmed a young female passenger while she used the planeâs bathrooms, says itâs the girlâs fault.
In recent court filings, the airline has argued that a 9-year-old girl should have been aware of the recording device inside the airplane lavatory.
âDefendant would show that any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been sustained by Plaintiff, Mary Doe, were proximately caused by Plaintiffâs own fault and negligence,â American Airlinesâ lawyers wrote in their defense filing, the Boston Herald reports.
Of the âthe compromised lavatory, the lawyers said, the girl âknew or should have known [it] contained a visible and illuminated recording device.â
The legal issues began when a former flight attendant was arrested, accused of recording a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom during a flight to Boston. The attendant, Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, from Charlotte, North Carolina, reportedly had recordings of four other girls using the planeâs lavatories, including the 9-year-old girl from Texas, who was traveling with her family to Disneyland.
According to the familyâs lawsuit, the 9-year-old was secretly filmed during the flight last year. The lawsuit argues that American Airlines either knew or should have known that Mr. Thompson posed a danger to passengers.
âInstead of taking responsibility for this awful event, American Airlines is actually blaming our daughter for being filmed,â the girlâs mother said in a statement. âHow in good conscience could they even make such a suggestion? It both shocks and angers us. American Airlines has no shame.â
In another move that raised eyebrows, the airlineâs lawyers also wrote: âDefendant Thompson was not acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of the alleged wrongful conduct against Plaintiff⊠this Defendant (American) cannot be held vicariously liable for Defendant Thompsonâs alleged actions that occurred outside the course and scope of his employment.â