
Why United Was Legally Wrong to Deplane David Dao - donald123
https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-united-legally-wrong-deplane-134223391.html
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corememory
After the lawsuits against United and the City of Chicago are settled and the
damages are paid, I predict that no one at the top will be held accountable
and no structural change will take place at either United or the Chicago
Aviation Police. We live in a plutocracy and the wealthy take care of their
own.

~~~
peterwwillis
Technically _the people_ take care of the wealthy by buying their products and
voting their sycophants into office.

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peterwwillis
Man, modern journalism is really lame.

 _> Videos also show a clearly injured Dao returning to the plane, walking up
and down the aisle and muttering that he needed to get home. He was then
escorted off the plane a second time._

A gonzo journalist would write: _" show Dao returning to the plane, walking up
and down the aisles, then staring into space, muttering that he needs to go
home, and repeating 'just kill me' over and over in an urgent tone, hair
matted, toilet paper wedged against his bloodied face. He had the near-death
shock of an asian tourist who'd gotten lost on the way back to his hotel after
leaving a bar usually patronized by a "certain type" on the outskirts of
Acapulco, only to be kidnapped, strip-searched, and terrorized for 48 hours by
paranoid men with AK-47s snorting cocaine and sporting "ZETAS" tattoos. He was
then escorted off the plane a second time."_

Also - _" vicious memes"_ ? Ripping someone out of their seat and dragging
them through a plane can be vicious, but jpegs cannot.

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basseq
This is a very good writeup. I think we can all agree about the terrible
_perception_ this has on United (and once you have perception, facts don't
matter). But clearly outlines that _the facts are against United, too_.

Whether he knew it or not, good on David Dao for standing up for his legal
rights.

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dragontamer
I really wish that these people would describe their legal authority. If they
were a lawyer, what they practice in, etc. etc. This man is a professor of law
and associate dean... which means his opinion is pretty good but he's not
necessarily a practicing lawyer.

With that said: by breaking the contract with Dr. Dao, it would seem that
United is therefore required to pay up the cost of Dr. Dao's ticket.

It isn't too hard to come up with a situation where passengers are already
boarded, but then are forced off the plane. (Ex: weather conditions change.
Another airliner crashes in the runway, causing an unknown amount of delay,
etc. etc.). Surely under such a situation, all the "already boarded"
passengers will be forced off the plane, and probably refunded the full value
of their ticket.

\---------

But under no circumstances is there actually a requirement to fly every
passenger. I'd expect that the absolute limit that can be forced onto United
Airlines is the ~$1350 cash + Refunded Plane Ticket.

Well, aside from the broken nose and concussion. But that's the Chicago
Police's problem, not United.

~~~
heavymark
You're right, it isn't hard to think up situations where passengers would have
to be deboarded such as weather change, another plane crashing into them etc
as you noted. However all of those items you mentioned are noted in the United
Contract of Carriage which mentions force majure including weather, and damage
to the airplane, running out of fuel, strikes etc. However, none of those
reasons applied to Dr. Dao, and his being boot from the plane which why he
would have a very good chance of getting far more than a refund. You can also
be sure, eventually United and other airlines will quietly update there
contracts to allow them to legally boot a customer under any circumstances at
their sole discretion.

~~~
dragontamer
[https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-
carriag...](https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-
carriage.aspx#sec21)

> 10.Passengers who are manacled or in the custody of law enforcement
> personnel;

As far as I can see, Dr. Dao is in the custody of Law Enforcement. Its pretty
damn clear from the video that Law enforcement is removing Dr. Dao from the
plane.

\---------

Come on man, its trivial to come up with easy ways to meet a legal document.
The document is written in all sorts of ways to remove passengers and keep
United in the right.

~~~
Terretta
That's referring to prisoner transport.

~~~
dragontamer
The definition of "Police Custody" is very specific. It is any situation where
you are not free to leave. (I admit the details changes from state to state
however).

IE: You are typically under (limited) Police Custody during a Breathalyzer
test. Although the details of this custody vary from state to state, the fact
of the matter is you are NOT free to leave and your rights are restricted.

In any case, Dr. Dao is obviously under Police Custody. Now the officer was
probably wrong for putting the man under custody, but its clear that the
Officer is dragging the man out of the Plane, and that Dr. Dao is not allowed
to freely go about his business.

The Officer probably didn't follow his proper duties at 3:30am (and his
suspension from the Police Force indicates that something wrong happened from
a Police perspective). But regardless, Dr. Dao is CLEARLY under Police Custody
at the time. At least, now that we know the man dragging Dr. Dao out of the
plane was an officer.

Normally, you're supposed to show your badge and give Miranda Rights (proper
procedures and everything). But needless to say, there were a lot of mistakes
made at that time. IMO, most of them seem to be Police-level mistakes however
and not necessarily United Airline's problem. (Despite what the court of
Public Opinion believes...)

~~~
ohyes
He wasn't in police custody when they first 'deboarded' him from the plane.

