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Flying the very-friendly, but hazy skies of United

By Steve Lombardi

p /p p class="heading13" style="background: white; margin: 9.75pt 0in 0pt"Here at the InjuryBoard we advocate for the rights of the injured, those oppressed by tort reform and those whose rights are taken away by tort reformers. We do this knowing that some litigation, while ethical and legal is controversial and then some litigation should never be brought. We arenrsquo;t just trying to educate the general lay public, but the lawyers as well. In this case I donrsquo;t know enough about the law and facts to comment on the cause of action ndash; the lawsuit. So Irsquo;ll confine my discussion to the facts as reported and let you decide if this case should ever have been brought./p p class="heading13" style="background: white; margin: 9.75pt 0in 0pt"Common sense tells us that the airline and passengers have duties to act reasonable. For now let's leave it at that./p p class="heading13" style="background: white; margin: 9.75pt 0in 0pt"a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-wed-overserved-united-uauadec17,0,7796929.story"Here is the Chicago Tribune news report/a: A man flying from Japan to San Francisco drinks alcohol supplied by the flight attendants. There is no indication exactly how much he drank, whether he was in first or business class or the cattle section where most of us fly. Safe to say he probably drank more than he should have. Itrsquo;s further reported that while moving through U.S. Customs in San Francisco he strikes his wife in the face several times. Hersquo;s arrested for disorderly conduct and battery which causes a delay in his travel plans. U.S. Immigration hearings cause further delays that require him to cool his heels in San Francisco. The delay not unexpectedly creates a need to put up $100,000.00 in bail, hotel fees, meals and wage loss. The end result is that hersquo;s charged and sentenced to 18 months probation./p pThe passenger hires a lawyer who files suit against United Airlines claiming they are the cause of his inebriation ndash; sounds a lot like a dram shop claim. I havenrsquo;t seen the Complaint but thatrsquo;s my guess./p pHow would I investigate this claim? First Irsquo;d look at the San Francisco bar tab. Second I would look closely at the defense of complicity, although without seeing the complaint I canrsquo;t tell who the plaintiff or plaintiffs are. It may make a difference. Third, the law of the air is a completely different animal than the law of the land. United Airlinesrsquo; lawyers would know that inside and out./p pHere is what the Chicago Tribune reports is in the Complaint./p blockquote pUnited's quot;conduct was egregious because it knew or should have known that over-serving a passenger alcohol on an international flight would have negative consequences,quot; the complaint said. United's quot;conduct was deliberate, reckless, intentional and done with disregard for plaintiffs and all passengers.quot;br / br / Shimamoto, a native of Japan, was prevented from returning to his home country while his case wound through the a title="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/california/san-mateo-county-PLGEO100101101000266.topic" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/california/san-mateo-county-PLGEO100101101000266.topic"San Mateo County/a courts in northern a title="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/california-PLGEO100100100000000.topic" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/california-PLGEO100100100000000.topic"California/a.br / br / The Shimamotos want United to pick up the $100,000 tab for Yoichi Shimamoto's bail, and defense and a title="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-immigration-storygallery,0,407645.storygallery" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-immigration-storygallery,0,407645.storygallery"Immigration/a attorneys' fees, as well as the costs they incurred to have his probationary sentence transferred to a title="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/florida-PLGEO100100400000000.topic" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/florida-PLGEO100100400000000.topic"Florida/a, where his wife had a home.br / br / They also want the airline to pay for pain, suffering, loss of income and quot;any other relief that is just and proper.quot;/p /blockquote pThere may be an interesting twist in this case. The news article indicates his lawyer is ldquo;emCarl Hayes, a Tampa lawyer representing the Shimamotos, declined to comment on their lawsuit.rdquo;/em/p pI wondered about the age and experience of this lawyer ndash; you know the question. Is he just young and impetuous? I searched the Google News for ldquo;strongCarl Hayes Florida Lawyer./strongrdquo; There is a Carl Hayes and a Calvin Hayes practicing law in Florida so the United Airlines passenger's lawyer may be a different one. But itrsquo;s still interesting to research and to ask questions about. Here is the story I found:/p blockquote pa title="Permanent Link: Carl Roland Hayes: Lawyer Hayes tasered amp; drive stunned" href="http://celebgalz.com/carl-roland-hayes-lawyer-hayes-tasered-drive-stunned/"Carl Roland Hayes: Lawyer Hayes tasered amp; drive stunned/a/p pCarl a target="_blank" href="javascript:void(0)"Roland/a Hayes, 53, a a target="_top" href="http://celebgalz.com/carl-roland-hayes-lawyer-hayes-tasered-drive-stunned/"lawyer/a, was speaking at a a target="_top" href="http://celebgalz.com/carl-roland-hayes-lawyer-hayes-tasered-drive-stunned/"meeting/a of the Tampa Code Enforcement Board when he suddenly became very upset. Carl a target="_top" href="http://celebgalz.com/carl-roland-hayes-lawyer-hayes-tasered-drive-stunned/"Hayes/a was requested to leave the meeting. A police officer escorted Hayes out but Hayes slapped the police officer in the face./p pThis a target="_blank" href="javascript:void(0)"officer/a used his Taser a target="_blank" href="javascript:void(0)"gun/a on Hayes but it was ineffective. So the a target="_blank" href="javascript:void(0)"officer/a placed his Taser against Hayesrsquo; skin while handcuffing him. This was known as the ldquo;drive stunned.rdquo; a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,458386,00.html"Carl Hayes/a was arrested and charged with battery on a a target="_blank" href="javascript:void(0)"law enforcement/a officer, resisting arrest and trespassing after being warned./p /blockquoteblockquote pBy a title="Posts by Therese Lisieux" href="http://celebgalz.com/author/therese-lisieux/"Therese Lisieux/a on November 27th, 2008/p pa href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/nov/26/262126/taser-used-lawyer-tampa-code-board-meeting/"Taser Used On Lawyer At Tampa Code Board Meeting/a/p pTBO.com/p pPublished: November 26, 2008/p pUpdated: 11/26/2008 09:26 pm/p p /p pTAMPA - A lawyer was stunned with a a href="http://www2.tbo.com/topic/k/taser/"Taser/a twice this afternoon after he became upset at a Tampa a href="http://www2.tbo.com/topic/k/code-enforcement-board/"Code Enforcement Board/a meeting, police say./p p /p pa href="http://www2.tbo.com/topic/k/tampa-lawyer/"Tampa lawyer/a Carl Roland Hayes, 53, was addressing the board when he became irate and verbally abusive, said Lt. Ronald McMullen of the Tampa Police Department. Officials asked Hayes to calm down, but he did not, McMullen said./p p /p pAs Hayes was being escorted out of the meeting, he slapped an officer's face, McMullen said./p pAn officer used a Taser, but it had no obvious effect, police said. Hayes started quot;fighting and flailing,quot; McMullen said, and an officer had to press the a href="http://www2.tbo.com/topic/k/taser/"Taser/a against Hayes' body to quot;drive stunquot; him./p p /p pHayes, of 5115 Branch Ave. N., was charged with battery of a law enforcement officer, obstructing or opposing an officer with violence and trespassing. He was released from Orient Road Jail at 8:43 p.m. after posting $4,500 bail./p p /p pMcMullen said he did not know what issue Hayes had brought before the board or why he became upset./p /blockquote pIf anyone has the location of the Complaint online and can provide it to me Irsquo;d like to review it. Send it to sdlombardi@aol.com. If anyone knows if the airlines lawyer and the board meeting lawyer are the same Carl Hayes and can confirm it please drop me a line. Irsquo;ll try to report more on this at some later date. In the meantime sit back and leave the flying to ushellip;/p p /p p /pa href="http://desmoines.injuryboard.com/mass-transit-accidents/flying-the-veryfriendly-but-hazy-skies-of-united.aspx?googleid=253550"Originally posted/a at a href="http://www.InjuryBoard.com"InjuryBoard/a by a href="http://www.injuryboard.com/member-profiles/Steve-Lombardi"Steve Lombardi/a

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on December 18, 2008 (boomark / email).