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A lawyer representing American Airlines has made the shocking claim that a 9-year-old girl suing the company should have known she was being filmed by a creepy flight attendant while using the plane’s bathroom.
The airline’s lawyers rejected the “outrageous” suggestion in legal papers filed Monday as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by the girl’s family against the company last year, the airline’s lawyer said. the child.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, was arrested for allegedly secretly filming several girls ages 7 to 14 over several months last year, according to federal prosecutors.
American Airlines wrote in its legal filing Monday that the girl should have known a device was recording her while she used the restroom.
“Any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been suffered by Plaintiff, Mary Doe, were caused proximately by Plaintiff’s fault and negligence, were caused by Plaintiff’s use of the compromised restroom, of which she knew or should have known that they contained a visible and illuminated recording device,” according to one of the various legal defenses proposed by American Airlines’ lawyers.
The girl’s family is “absolutely furious” at the airlines’ latest legal ruling, their lawyer Paul Llewellyn said.
“I was absolutely shocked and I think it’s outrageous,” Llewellyn told the Post. “The idea that American Airlines and its lawyers would blame a 9-year-old girl for being filmed smacks, in my opinion, of desperation and depravity.
“What is American Airlines thinking by adopting such a strategy?
An email seeking comment from American Airlines and the law firm representing the company in the case was not immediately returned Tuesday evening.
After its flight crew member’s arrest, American Airlines said it took “these allegations very seriously.”
The 9-year-old girl’s family, who lives in Texas, filed the lawsuit in February, more than a year after she was allegedly recorded on a January 2023 flight to Los Angeles.
Thompson was arrested and charged by federal agents in January after allegations of illness came to light when a 14-year-old girl from North Carolina on a separate flight noticed an iPhone recording her after she found herself in the airplane toilet in September 2023.
She took a photo of the shocking setup before leaving the toilet.
Llewellyn said Tuesday that American Airlines has not suggested the North Carolina teen is guilty in a separate, ongoing lawsuit against the airline that was first filed in December.
Thompson pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Massachusetts federal court Monday to charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, the Boston Herald reported.
Authorities found at least four instances where Thompson recorded a minor while the child was using the restroom, federal prosecutors said.
In the legal filing Monday, American Airlines also placed blame on Thompson, saying his alleged actions occurred “outside the scope and scope of his employment.”
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News Source : nypost.com
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