Originally Posted by jkhuggins

And that's exactly why, in my opinion, this will never go to trial.

United obviously has a substantial interest in settling out of court.

Frankly, so does the passenger; a settlement means less money spent on lawyer fees, and less time having irrelevant details of his personal life (real or imagined) being debated in public. Plus, juries are notoriously fickle; you never know what can happen if you get a couple of "anything for security" folks on the jury that swing the jury's attitude against the passenger.

I didn't see the press conference. But all of the posturing about "this is going to trial" is exactly what one does in order to set up a strong negotiating position before a settlement.