American Airlines sacked their legal team after they blamed a nine-year-old girl for being filmed in a plane’s bathrooms by a male flight attendant.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, was arrested in January after he allegedly recorded four underaged girls – aged 7, 9, 11 and 14 – as they used the bathroom aboard several AA flights. He has pleaded not guilty.
In their response to a lawsuit filed by the nine-year-old’s family, the airline argued it was not liable to the alleged victim because she should have realized the bathroom had been fitted with a recording device.
The airline was forced to issue a groveling apology where they blame their outside legal counsel for the error and have since confirmed to DailyMail.com they have changed lawyers.
‘As a result of the intense media and public backlash surrounding the outrageous allegation, we are not surprised to learn that American Airlines fired its law firm,’ Paul Llewellyn, an attorney representing the young girl and her family, told DailyMail.com
‘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.
‘Otherwise, we are very confident that a Texas jury will do the right thing and hold American Airlines responsible.’
Llewellyn’s firm told The Dallas Morning News it was notified on Friday that Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP would now be representing the airline.
American Airlines put forward several defenses in the filing, including that they are not responsible because of ‘the doctrine of comparative negligence, contributory negligence, comparative responsibility and/or comparative causation.’
The airlines legal defense continued: ‘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, were proximately caused by Plaintiff’s use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.’
The plaintiff’s lawyer Caroline Recupero said: ‘In other words, American Airlines is blaming a 9-year-old-girl for being filmed by an American Airlines flight attendant, arguing the child knew or should have known that the airplane toilet contained a recording device.
‘It is our firm’s position that this assertion is both shameful and absolutely outrageous.’
She added: ‘It is our firm’s position that this assertion is both shameful and absolutely outrageous.’
American Airlines faced backlash online and even the threat of a boycott over the legal response.
The airline said it was an error by their outside legal counsel, which was retained by their insurance company.
‘The included defense is not representative of our airline and we have directed it be amended this morning,’ AA told DailyMail.com on Tuesday.
‘We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously.’
In the lawsuit, the girl’s parents claim Thompson took images of the girl in January, 2023, as she used the bathroom of the flight heading to Los Angeles. The girl and her family had been on their way to Disney World and a gymnastics competition.
The images, recovered from Thompson’s iCloud by the FBI, showed the girl’s face, buttocks and genitals, according to the complaint.
The alleged child abuse materials were found after Thompson was arrested after a 14-year-old girl told her family about the camera in the plane’s bathroom.
The FBI then found other victims, including the nine-year-old from Texas, after searching his devices and iCloud, as well as AI generated pornography.