American Airlines blamed a 9-year-old child for being secretly recorded in the plane’s bathroom.
Several lawsuits were filed against the airliner after a flight attendant taped an iPhone to the toilet seat in the plane lavatory and secretly recorded young teens and prepubescent children.
In the original lawsuit filed by a North Carolina family, the girl and her parents allege that American Airlines “knew or should have known the flight attendant was a danger.”
The flight attendant, Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, was charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children, and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. Thompson is currently in federal custody and pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Estes Carter Thompson III
The girl used the bathroom and then noticed an iPhone taped to the lid under a sticker saying the seat was broken. She only saw it because the flash was glowing.
Other minor females, including a girl as young as 9 were also secretly recorded.
In a legal filing, American Airlines said the 9-year-old’s “injury or illness” was caused by her “own fault and negligence.”
After major backlash, American Airlines walked back their statement about the child and claimed it was released in error.
“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,” American Airlines said. “We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously.”
The Boston Herald reported:
American Airlines, facing lawsuits after a flight attendant allegedly filmed girls using plane bathrooms, is blaming a 9-year-old girl for being secretly recorded.
The airline in a new court filing is arguing that the young girl should have known that the airplane toilet contained 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,” American Airlines’ lawyers wrote in their defense filing.
The airline’s attorneys added about the 9-year-old girl using “the compromised lavatory” on the plane: “She knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”
The lawsuits against American Airlines started after a former flight attendant was arrested in connection with allegedly recording a 14-year-old girl in a plane’s bathroom on a Boston-bound flight.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, N.C., also allegedly had recordings of four other girl passengers using airplane lavatories — including the 9-year-old girl, who’s from Texas and was flying with her family to go to Disneyland.