SteveCostello
My member is well-known.
Sue everyone, and surely something will stick, right?
SWA and SWA FA sued over spilled hot tea
- Thread starter MikeD
- Start date
amjon
Pilot and A Half (for now
I think it's silly just from the point if you serve drinks, people are going to have to go to the lav. Now you have half the people on the flight trying to get in the lav even though the seatbelt sign has been on for 10 minutes.
🦈💜
Well-Known Member
Don't forget air gap cooling!!! If you're cooling to 202 and then pouring, you might be extracting as low as 180-190, depending on your pouring arrangement. That's generally too cool for anything except aeropress.
You might be surprised. I was making espresso naked one morning, and accidentally caught the lip of the cup with the portafilter. Dumped 195˚ water over my crotch and thigh. Did it hurt? Sure. Did I jump like a monk stepping on a stingray? You bet. But the redness went away by the next day.
First off, I wish the system agreed. But second... I ain't taking the word of some lawyer that there's "severe scarring". If something happened that was traumatic enough to cause "severe scarring", you better believe I think it happened before the flight.
~Fox
🦈💜
Well-Known Member
Ok, look. Let me put this in real simple terms.
IF the water was boiling when it was put into a carafe at altitude, it was boiling somewhere around 198˚F. Assuming that water is kept in the vessel it's boiled in and heat is removed, it will promptly begin cooling at between 0.25˚F and 1.25˚F every four seconds. When it's poured into the cup, you'll lose another 5˚F-10˚F (minimum) due to pouring the water through an air gap.
So, barring southwest having boilers built into their little service carts, the absolute hottest temperature possible for the water in that cup is going to be ~180˚F, and that's assuming the woman is standing at the "boiling water" when she receives the cup.
In reality, the water was most likely between 150˚F and 170˚F -at best-. If it's hotter than that, I have to say -- SWA, I praise your dedication to proper brewing temperatures, even though the physics elude me.
By the time it reaches her crotch, it's probably down to 125˚F-145˚F.
Is 145˚F hot? Sure, it's hot. Can it cause burns? Absolutely. So can grinding your hooch against the seat for a three hour flight.
Society has to have a standard for some degree of assumption of risk, or we all turn into ... well, the society that we're turning into. Obviously. Eh, wasting my breath.
~Fox
dustoff17
Still trying to reach the Top Shelf
On the other hand, a person shouldn't try to drive with their legs while trying to remove the lid from a cup of coffee with BOTH hands.........
thevideographer
Well-Known Member
Second degree burns are worth $800,000 now? That seems like a lot of compensation for a day or two of stinging skin. I burned the out of my hand this morning on a POS toaster and got over it in about 10 minutes.
HerrGruyere
Well-Known Member
I have a feeling the case may not fly in court. I know in NC, there is a negligibility clause that states if you are even found 1% negligible or at-fault in any case seeking rewards for damages caused by another party, you will not be awarded any money.
My old job at a personal injury lawfirm was full of people trying to milk the system. I'd say 99% of the active cases we had were legitimate. I'd also say 99% of the calls received from potential clients were just people looking for a quick buck. I'd probably get around four calls per week where someone would slip and fall at a Dollar Tree. We'd ask them how it happened. "Well, it was a rainy day." Strike one. "The floor was wet when I walked in." Strike two. "I fell at the door, where the floor was super wet. There was a wet floor sign up." Strike three, you're out! People would also walk into spilled liquids that weren't water. Then they would fall and try to sue. Really? You didn't see the entire two liters worth of Coke on the floor? Walked right into it and slipped? Yeah. Get outta here.
I had a lady try to sue her coworkers for the headaches they were causing her. It was for a workman's compensation case. She said she sent an email to a coworker of hers regarding an affair she was having, but she hit reply all or send all instead of just the one coworker. Now she has headaches because of this incident and the pain it's causing her watching her coworkers poke fun at her a little. Well, lady, be more careful next time and don't have an affair!
My old job at a personal injury lawfirm was full of people trying to milk the system. I'd say 99% of the active cases we had were legitimate. I'd also say 99% of the calls received from potential clients were just people looking for a quick buck. I'd probably get around four calls per week where someone would slip and fall at a Dollar Tree. We'd ask them how it happened. "Well, it was a rainy day." Strike one. "The floor was wet when I walked in." Strike two. "I fell at the door, where the floor was super wet. There was a wet floor sign up." Strike three, you're out! People would also walk into spilled liquids that weren't water. Then they would fall and try to sue. Really? You didn't see the entire two liters worth of Coke on the floor? Walked right into it and slipped? Yeah. Get outta here.
I had a lady try to sue her coworkers for the headaches they were causing her. It was for a workman's compensation case. She said she sent an email to a coworker of hers regarding an affair she was having, but she hit reply all or send all instead of just the one coworker. Now she has headaches because of this incident and the pain it's causing her watching her coworkers poke fun at her a little. Well, lady, be more careful next time and don't have an affair!
Flymia
Well-Known Member
Another problem with this case is that it is an airline. Some districts do not allow personal injury claims to things like this that happen that involve the airlines. Other districts do though.
Southwest Airlines first move will be to get the case dismissed, stating there is no claim because the Airline Deregulation Act preempts any state tort law claims. The federal government and federal law has full control over anything that has to do with "Rates, Services, and Routes". Southwest will argue that serving drinks is certainly something that has to do with Services and Routes so unless there is a cause of action in federal law there is no claim.
The woman will have to argue that is does not realte to services or rates. Its really up to the judge on which way it goes. Southwest could always just settle but this could be an important case for Judicial precedent so Southwest might want to go ahead and take this one and see how far it goes.
Southwest Airlines first move will be to get the case dismissed, stating there is no claim because the Airline Deregulation Act preempts any state tort law claims. The federal government and federal law has full control over anything that has to do with "Rates, Services, and Routes". Southwest will argue that serving drinks is certainly something that has to do with Services and Routes so unless there is a cause of action in federal law there is no claim.
The woman will have to argue that is does not realte to services or rates. Its really up to the judge on which way it goes. Southwest could always just settle but this could be an important case for Judicial precedent so Southwest might want to go ahead and take this one and see how far it goes.
killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
I just broke the "like" button on my PC.
pullup
Homewrecker
This is absolutely awesome. Take them for everything you can, lady!
But aside from my personal hatred for our evil Tex-ass overlords, it sounds like a reasonable suit to me. Hot tea shouldn't cause second degree burns through clothing.
Why all the hate for what most would deem a dream job?
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
What a 23 year old RJ pilot thinks is a dream job is a lot different than what an established major airline pilot half way up the FO list thinks is a dream job. I know you probably don't "get" the whole seniority thing, because you have to live it to truly understand it, but losing all of my seniority is something I'll certainly never forget or forgive.
Where do you place the blame for the severe seniority loss? Current carrier? Former carrier? Or were factors a combination of both to X degrees?
If its something that can't be publically commented on, that's fully understandable.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Primarily SWAPA and Southwest management for engaging in a campaign of fear and intimidation, threatening to end the careers of our pilots if we didn't bend over and take it. But I also place blame on our own MEC and Merger Committee for not effectively dealing with those threats, and with the pilot group at large for not being willing to stand up for themselves.
Seggy
Well-Known Member
So everyone?
Curiously, if SWA was the airline taking over, what kind of leverage or other advantage did your MEC realistically still possess? From a layperson viewpoint, it would seem that they'd almost be at the mercy of the airline taking over. But i don't know the inner workings. In terms of the pilot group, were most engrossed with "Shiny SWA Syndrome"; hence why they didn't stand up?
It's an interesting discussion.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Mike, there are many legal protections for airline employees in a merger. For starters, there is our labor contracts. Our CBA contains a long list of merger protections. In addition, after the TWA/AMR debacle, Senators McCaskill and Bond got legislation through Congress which was signed by the president that provided statutory protection for employees involved in mergers, to prevent another fiasco like what happened to the TWA pilots. Of course, those protections have to be enforced, so if your MEC or pilot group is so scared of their own shadow that they won't fight to defend themselves, then all of the protections in the world won't help.
No, it was really more an issue of fear. They were scared to death that SWA management would carry through on their threats to put us out of work, despite all of our legal protections.
Interesting stuff, the inner workings and all. Any opinion of what would've happened had the MEC rejected the second (?) contract that was offered by SWA; which I believe was of far lesser quality than the first? Such as, would the contracts have kept getting worse with each succeeding one, or would/could the MEC have forced implementation of the protections that are in place?
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Mike, we had the ability to procede to arbitration and have the arbitrator decide what the seniority integration would have been. The implied threat from SWA management was that we wouldn't be merged if we did that, but of course, that wouldn't be contractual or legal.