American Airlines Fires Legal Team After Blaming Child Filmed by Flight Attendant

Amer­i­can Air­lines has fired its legal team after they sparked out­rage by blam­ing a 9‑year-old girl for being filmed in a plane’s bath­room by a male flight atten­dant. The air­line faced intense pub­lic scruti­ny for the “shame­ful and out­ra­geous” legal defense.

Estes Carter Thomp­son III, 37, was arrest­ed in Jan­u­ary for alleged­ly record­ing four under­age girls on sev­er­al Amer­i­can Air­lines flights. He has plead­ed not guilty.

Lawyers Blamed Child for Filming

In response to a law­suit filed by the 9‑year-old’s fam­i­ly, Amer­i­can Air­lines’ legal team argued the air­line was not liable because the girl should have noticed the record­ing device. This insen­si­tive defense forced the air­line to issue a pub­lic apol­o­gy and replace their legal representation.

“The air­line fir­ing its law firm is unsur­pris­ing after the media and pub­lic back­lash sur­round­ing this out­ra­geous alle­ga­tion,” said Paul Llewellyn, the attor­ney rep­re­sent­ing the vic­tim’s family.

The plain­tiff’s lawyer, Car­o­line Recu­pero, con­demned the air­line’s ini­tial defense as “both shame­ful and absolute­ly out­ra­geous.” She empha­sized that Amer­i­can Air­lines was “blam­ing a young child for the actions of their own employee.”

Airline Backtracks and Apologizes

Amer­i­can Air­lines con­firmed it had changed legal teams, stat­ing, “We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the alle­ga­tions involv­ing a for­mer team mem­ber very seriously.”

The inci­dent has sparked wide­spread out­rage, with calls for a boy­cott of the air­line. The case is ongo­ing, and the fam­i­ly’s lawyers hope the new legal team will take respon­si­bil­i­ty for the trau­mat­ic expe­ri­ence the child endured.