- Furor continues over insider trading by Congress [Roger Parloff/Fortune, Bainbridge (“unimpressed” with reform proposal entitled STOCK Act), earlier] Rep. Bachus disputes claims in Peter Schweizer book [AW, Perry]
- “Fort Hood victims’ families seek $750M from feds” [Kenneth Timmerman, Daily Caller]
- “Chicago Lawyer Sues Southwest, Says Airline Breached Free-Drink Coupon Contract” [ABA Journal]
- “Lawyer Solicitation: Penn State Sex Abuse Edition” [Turkewitz] Slate slags Merck CEO [Ted Frank]
- Akaka Hawaii-racialization bill, smuggled in through the back door? [Ilya Shapiro, background]
- Suits over Hurricane Irene electrical outages expected to spread [Connecticut Law Tribune, Chris Powell]
- Fiasco envy? “RIAA Thinking Of Backing Righthaven” [Masnick, TechDirt] “Righthaven ordered to pay nearly $120,000 in attorney fees, court costs” [VegasInc., Ars Technica, American Power Blog]
Posts Tagged ‘airlines’
Feds punish tarmac delays, airlines cancel flights instead (redux)
The Washington Post reports further developments on a regulatory-backfire story aired in this and many other places nearly two years ago.
“Couple sues airline over cockroaches on plane”
Attorney Harry Marsh and his fiancée, Kaitlin Rush, are “suing AirTran Airways, claiming they saw cockroaches coming out of air vents and storage areas on a recent flight and that attendants ignored their concerns…. They’re suing for more than $100,000, plus the price of their tickets.” The airline denies some of the allegations in the suit and says it takes precautions against bugs. [Charlotte Observer]
Great moments in airline law
From Canada’s National Post:
The Federal Court of Canada on Wednesday ordered Air Canada to pay $12,000 to Ottawa French-language rights crusader Michel Thibodeau in part because when he asked an English-speaking flight attendant for 7Up in May 12 of 2009, he got Sprite.
“The applicants’ language rights are clearly very important to them and the violation of their rights caused them a moral prejudice, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of their vacation,” Justice Marie-Josee Bedard wrote in her judgment.
The bulk of the lawsuit, filed by a frequent language-law litigant, contended that the airline failed to assign French-speaking flight attendants to several flights and failed to make a baggage announcement in French despite a federal law requiring alternative-language use “where there is significant demand for those services in the minority language and where it is warranted by the nature of the office or facility.”
“Lawsuit planned by family of teen who fell from airplane”
Hoping to ride for free, 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale stowed away in the landing gear of a US Airways flight but fell to his death in the Boston area. Now his family is suing, represented by Florida attorney Christopher Chestnut, who argues that the lad “should never have successfully gained access to that airplane. Had airport security been up to par, he would be alive and well with his family today.” [Boston Globe and more via TortsProf, BoingBoing]
November 26 roundup
- Reason TV interviews Richard Epstein;
- On the SEC’s big new “insider trading” sweep [Ribstein, Bainbridge, Lambert, Salmon, more Ribstein]
- Losing = winning? Ambitious claim for fees in environmental case [California Civil Justice, scroll]
- “Unintended consequences department: canceled flights” [Ted at PoL] And check out Ted’s new TSA Abuse Blog, on one of the hottest issues of the moment. More on that from Popehat and Simple Justice;
- H.R. 1408, the Inclusive Home Design Act, would compel handicap accessibility in private home design, yet another dreadful idea from Rep. Jan Schakowsky of CPSIA fame [AmendTheCPSIA]
- “This place would be a shoplifter’s paradise (and a liability insurance abuser’s motherlode) in the United States, but we were in Japan, where they don’t seem to worry as much about that kind of thing.” [Mark Frauenfelder, BoingBoing, on the Showa Kan museum of everyday midcentury life in Takayama]
- UK: “I moved out for decorators and squatters took over my house” [Evening Standard]
- From the ruins of Pompeii, a reflection on government and disaster relief [Dum Spiro Spero]
Need for agent’s help at check-in said to be ADA violation
“The National Federation for the Blind has initiated a class action lawsuit against United Airlines because United’s check-in kiosks cannot be used by blind passengers.” [Gary Leff, Boarding Area]
Woman sues airline over emergency landing
No physical injuries were reported at the time, but “passenger Jewel Thomas said she has suffered severe mental and emotional problems because of the incident on Sept. 22, 2008” in which an American Airlines plane skidded off the runway onto grass. [AP/WFAA]
Why JetBlue can’t crack a smile
The airline’s legal department is almost certainly insisting on a sober demeanor, and as a result JetBlue has to stay on the sidelines as the Steven Slater episode becomes the internet story of the week. [Parekh/Bush, AdAge via Balasubramani]
Passenger sues over crying toddler on flight
Qantas settled the American passenger’s complaint, so we never got to hear the battle of the experts about whether the 3-year-old’s screaming really caused blood to issue from her eardrum as alleged. [Suzanne Murray/CafeMom via Stoll and many readers]