Originally Posted by
cmdinnyc
It's about presenting enough of a case to warrant discovery to determine if this was an "act of god" or something for which United is liable. For better or worse, the US relies heavily on liability as the basis for holding people and corporations accountable, instead of a stronger civil regulatory framework.
The area I was struggling with was more related to what the damages were rather than the question of liability. Even if United is liable, that doesn't mean there is sufficient harm to warrant any award. I think the damages piece is the more challenging question given nobody did in fact suffer serious long term physical harm.
the precedent is that in the US you can't hold pax on the plane more than 3 hours without giving them the option of letting them off, in this case it was 8 hours (allegation 21) so regardless of whether you believe there was harm, by legal definition and precedent I believe there could be liability. Whether it is UA's or not, that may be up to the court but I find it very interesting that it is always happening in Goose Bay with UA and not Delta.