[Bob434]

[[This is where he exposes himself to a counterclaim in any lawsuit. It’s called contributing to the harm that you claim someone else has caused.]]

Exactly- Sadly united will likely settle though- probably out of court- because they want to try to salvage their reputation even though they did nothing wrong- (Except bumping him so that one of their own employees could ride- that was beyond the pale really, but still not illegal)

[Alberta's Child]

From what I've read, one of the complicating factors here was that there were actually two different carriers involved. I believe the United flight and the four crew members worked for two different airlines (United and a regional carrier contracted to fly certain routes for United) ... which means United may have been obligated under a contract to fly those crew members even if they didn't want to.

When you think about it, it's a terrible business decision to bump four paying customers from a flight in order to fly four non-paying crew members. Based on that, I would assume that this was done under an arrangement that didn't leave United any flexibility.