I found this interesting. Anyone thing the suit is called for?
Man Who Shut Down Atlanta Airport Sued
Photos
Reuters Photo
By Paul Simao
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Low-cost U.S. airline AirTran Airways has filed a federal lawsuit seeking at least $75,000 in damages from a Georgia man who sparked the shutdown of Atlanta's main airport for more than three hours this month.
The lawsuit, filed late on Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, claims that Michael Lasseter, 32, was negligent for not turning himself in to police after breaking through a security checkpoint and prompting a shutdown of Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport on Nov. 16.
Thousands of passengers were evacuated and flights were grounded during the shutdown, which occurred amid tightened airport security following the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks against the United States that killed almost 4,000 people.
``It's one thing to go through security the wrong way, but it's another thing to sit there when the airport is being evacuated and not confess to it,'' said Tad Hutcheson, chief spokesman for AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of Orlando, Florida-based AirTran Holdings Inc.
Hutcheson said AirTran had to absorb extra landing fees, fuel charges and other costs when it diverted 17 flights and canceled 24 others during the shutdown. Hutcheson said the airline was still calculating the damages, but noted that it would likely be in the ``hundreds of thousands.''
Although a number of other airlines were affected by the shutdown of Hartsfield, AirTran is so far the only one to take legal action to try to recoup damages from Lasseter, a low-level bank executive from Gainesville, Georgia.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc., the busiest airline at Hartsfield, said it did not plan to chase Lasseter for any of the $6 million to $8 million in estimated extra costs it suffered due to the shutdown.
``While the ramifications of this incident are of serious concern to Delta and Delta's customers, at this time we do not believe that civil litigation by Delta against Mr. Lasseter would be the best way to address this matter,'' Delta said in a statement.
Lasseter faces criminal charges of disorderly conduct for prompting the shutdown, which he said occurred inadvertently when he tried to retrieve a lost camera bag from a terminal. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 12 months in prison and be fined $1,000. |
