American Airways has changed the regulation agency that advised a decide a 9-year-old woman was negligent in not noticing there was a digital camera cellphone taped to the seat in an airplane toilet.
An airline spokesperson confirmed Friday that the Wilson Elser regulation agency is now not defending American in a lawsuit filed by the woman’s household.
American retained Kelly Hart & Hallman, a Fort Price-based agency that has completed intensive work for American in different issues.
The change in legal professionals got here after Wilson Elser mentioned in a courtroom doc that any hurt to the woman may very well be blamed on her “fault and negligence” for utilizing the bathroom, “which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”
A former American flight attendant is accused of luring ladies to make use of the bathroom after taping his iPhone to the bathroom seat and explaining that the seat was damaged. Estes Carter Thompson III, who was fired by American, pleaded not responsible this week to tried sexual exploitation of kids and possession of pictures of kid sexual abuse.
The 9-year-old’s household sued American in state courtroom in Austin, Texas, after the FBI advised them that movies of the woman have been discovered on the flight attendant’s cellphone.
“With the benefit of this new legal representation, we hope that American Airlines will now take a fresh look at the case and finally take some measure of responsibility for what happened to our client,” mentioned Paul Llewellyn, a lawyer for the woman’s household.
Llewellyn can be representing the household of a 14-year-old who’s suing American in federal courtroom in North Carolina over the identical flight attendant’s alleged acts.
Wilson Elser didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
