Posted on 04/11/2006 8:35:28 PM PDT by SmithL
EL PASO, Texas - A jury awarded $27.5 million in damages to a California woman of Iranian descent who alleged she was racially profiled when Southwest Airlines accused her of assaulting a flight attendant and interfering with a flight crew.
Samantha Carrington of Santa Barbara won in the civil case Friday after suing the Dallas-based carrier for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Carrington was arrested by federal authorities in 2003 after her Houston-to-Los Angeles flight made a scheduled stop in El Paso. Criminal charges were never filed.
According to court records, three flight attendants said Carrington, a naturalized citizen from Iran, became verbally abusive during the flight, grabbed the arm of one flight attendant and threatened to go to the cockpit if the captain was not summoned.
Carrington, 54, denied those allegations and said she was the one mistreated during the short flight. She said the flight attendants lied about her behavior.
"In the evidence it came out that one of the flight attendants stated that Ms. Carrington reminded her of a terrorist, and in our views she was the victim of profiling stereotypes and discrimination," said her lawyer Enrique Moreno.
The attorney's comments were reported Tuesday by the El Paso Times.
In a sworn deposition, Carrington, who teaches economics at California State University, Los Angeles, said since her arrest she has been the subject of increased scrutiny and security checks when she travels internationally.
Though Southwest Airlines has denied any wrongdoing, a few months after the incident the company did send Carrington an apology letter, offering her 20 round-trip tickets. The letter was signed by Colleen C. Barrett, president and former chief operating officer. Barrett said in a sworn affidavit that she didn't know anything about the case and didn't write the letter.
A Southwest spokeswoman said the decision will be appealed.
"We certainly don't agree with this particular verdict," spokeswoman Beth Harbin told the newspaper. "The verdict was not based on all the available facts because those facts were not presented to the jury for their consideration."
If it were all true- how is that worth $27.5 million? Because of hurt feelings?
So someone explain to me how she suffered $27.5 million in damages... Likely more money than she's made in her entire life.
Probably some moron in the legal department who overstepped his authority by about ten light years.
LOL...amazement has given way to laughter...
Can anyone imagine what its going to be like to live in this country 20 years from now?
Imagine millions upon millions of illegals and lawyers and socialist politicians...
LOL
I can only laugh at this stage of my life...the canoe has crested the falls...
$27.5 million for THAT?
We are living in a world gone mad !
This is a Texas jury. There's got to be more to this story. I'll be back in a bit...
Makes me ill that we have a legal system which would reward someone for provoking an incident with airline personnel. Hard to have much faith in our institutions anymore.
where were the other passengers, there should have been plenty of witnesses for this, to see how it really played out.
Ahh. Sounds like some liberal judge excluded evidence that would have helped the airline defend itself against this terrorist's lawsuit.
More than any FReeper has made in his/her entire life.
I see some big holes in this story, but on the flipside (having recently completed one full month of being institutionalized as a sworn juror) I can attest that we are a nation of gullible fools...
Yep.
so was the GJ that indicted DeLay.
I'd award her $27.50. And then charge her financially and legally.
indeed, there were plenty of witnesses available. how could they have been excluded?
That ridiculous award will be thrown out.
Jackpot Justice is alive and well. Hopefully the airline will win its appeal.
Southwest needs some new attys
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