Long Run wrote:The question/problem with a lawsuit here is whether the airline (the deep pocket) is liable for this action by its employee. Arguably, the employee's behavior is so far outside the normal bounds of this job that the airline would not be liable, especially since it fired the employee for the behavior. The employee likely doesn't have any money so a lawsuit would be pointless if the airline could not be sued.
Oh, I think the airline's liability for its employee is pretty much a no-brainer: He was on board the airplane, engaged in customer service and management of the cabin. He was negligent and/or reckless in the performance of those duties, to be sure, but they were still the (employer's) duties being performed. Plus, under the Montreal Convention (which has evdiently now superseded the Warsaw Convention that I had mentioned above), strict liability applies to the airline for any proven damages under the Convention limit:
Under the Montreal Convention, air carriers are strictly liable for proven damages up to 113,100 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) (Updated from 100,000 on December 31 2009), a mix of currency values established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), approximately $138,000 per passenger at the time of its ratification by the United States in 2003 (as of June 2009, around $154,800). Where damages of more than 113,100 SDR are sought, the airline may avoid liability by proving that the accident which caused the injury or death was not due to their negligence or was attributable to the negligence of a third party. This defence is not available where damages of less than 113,100 SDR are sought. The Convention also amended the jurisdictional provisions of Warsaw and now allows the victim or their families to sue foreign carriers where they maintain their principal residence, and requires all air carriers to carry liability insurance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_C ... on#Damages
Again, I think the problem with the case is damages. In my view, if you could get a few free round-trip tickets to a destination of your choice, you'd be getting all (probably more than) this case is worth.
