Originally Posted by
spin88
What liability? His employer is a subcontractor of United. United is in charge of the situation. What exactly is he supposed to say/do?
The captain may liable. If aviation law really is pulled heavily from maritime law (which in turn pulls in a lot of military concepts), then the captain is responsible for everything on that happens onboard that vessel, and it really doesn't matter whether or not the captain knew specifically of this incident.
Note the terms "Captain" and "First Officer" and the military-like ranking bars they wear on their shoulders. The leadership argument would be that the captain sets the expectations with the flight crew (another borrowed military concept), including the flight attendants. It was therefore the captain's lack of leadership that prevented the flight attendants from intervening when the gate agent (a guest on the captain's vessel) went rogue and called the cops.
For the overwhelming amount of commercial air travel, the Captain is just the pilot, and the First Officer is just the co-pilot. They are executing the "job" of flying an airline and "job" of Captain and First Officer. But it really wouldn't be surprising of those military roots aren't buried in a whole lot of places in the legal realm and wouldn't creep right back up in a case like this.