Why such a speedy settlement?
 

Attorney friends of mine are as perplexed as me about why United settled so quickly with Dao. It must have been a record. These things usually take years.

It occurred to me earlier when I saw an ad on this board announcing Republic's exit from bankruptcy.

Incident, April 9

Settlement, April 27

Republic exits Bankruptcy April 30.

If a judge were to decide he had a cause of action against Republic ( the carrier under which that flight's operating certificate was being conducted), what would that make his standing for a claim?

Could it have held up the reorganization? Or...would that mean he stood to collect pennies on the dollar if he eventually won?

Having been through a couple airline bankruptcies (not as an attorney, but a claimants rep), I have seen both scenarios, but this goes beyond my expertise? if you could call it that

Still, such a speedy settlement is unheard of, even considering the public outcry, so there must be another factor.

The plot thickens.

I think BK only affects obligations which existed prior to filing.

Otherwise it would be very hard to continue to do business, since vendors would know you didn't have to pay them.

It was settled because United made a financial offer, and Dao accepted.

A trial would have been bigly bad press for United...but I suspect discovery and trial wouldn't have been very friendly to Dao, either.

I suspect United wanted it done and gone. Dr Dao, the convicted felon, couldn't afford to have charges pressed. Find a middle ground there and you've got your settlement.

Who's this Dao you guys are talking about?

Thats is why the settled quickly... hoping for the above...

That's what people reading page 11 of the Tribune in 2019, would have been saying.

Then again, isn't United in negotiations with the city for their lease?

I am not a lawyer. If you remember the BP oil spill in the gulf, BP is the one that got hammered, even though the work was all sub-contracted out. BP was the one doing the "business", and had much deeper pockets. I believe it is a similar structure.

Not sure if this has anything to do with it. It may have been a contracted carrier, but what part did they have to do with Dao getting chosen from an overbooked flight. The only thing that Republic would have done, was a Flight Attendant getting on PA system and asking if theres any volunteers. Since no one else volunteered then the FA looks at Gate Sgent and says ummm well no one is volunteering. The Gate Agent is United employee, prob then a Supervisor was called ( also United employee). So the the calls were made by United employees. What would have occurred differently if it was on United aircraft? What am I missing?

I agree with you. It was a UAL gate agent. My biggest heartburn with all of this, and maybe I'm just getting old, is what is going on with our society when a convicted felon can tell 3 LEOs to "F off" and get paid for it?

I would have been upset too, but I was raised to listen to the people with badges. Comply and straighten it out afterwards.

Yup^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^