<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jetsetter:
RichardInSF,
While perhaps most judges would not allow the seizure of an airplane, wouldn't there be some judges who feel offended that an airline tries to make itself larger than life, and order the seizure of the plane to sort of show that the institution of justice is still the boss? It might generate interesting media coverage also if a commercial jetliner was seized by a local official?</font>
Most small claims cases in California are now heard by anti-consumer bureaucrats called "commissioners," and I doubt it. You know where "People's Court" on TV starts becoming fiction? When the judge opens the trial by saying, "I've read your complaint." Hah, no way!
But the bigger issue is that I doubt if any major airline actually OWNS any planes -- they are leased from financial companies through arrangements that are supposed to, among other things, protect the lessor against bankruptcy proceedings, so they'd probably be pretty darn secure against small claims courts.
I really like the idea of doing something dramatic, but I don't think this would work.