TSA says "Just Kidding"

Contrail the Kid said:
I've always felt it's commendable when one person shows more restraint and compassion than the d-bag who messed up. Shows who's the "bigger man". You want him to learn a lesson, sure; but dang, its not like you want his unborn child to pay for it as well...:whatever:
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That's just it. You don't bring suit against the guy in order to teach him a lesson. He already learned the lesson when he lost his job. You bring suit against the guy in order to teach everyone who will come after him a lesson. A few cents per paycheck won't accomplish that task adequately. A settlement with a fairly sizable payout will.
 
shdw said:
I say it was a kick ass practical joke that was improperly executed. Common, put this in a different perspective.

You and a group of your college buddies are going on spring break and one of you is friends with the TSA guy checking the bags. Imagine the look on your buddies face when you pull something like this.

People need to lighten up.
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I agree completely!!! Go take some white powder and pretend to sneak it past a TSA agent. When he catches you say it was just a joke! Should be laughs all around!

The only thing that will actually save you from going to jail is the fact that TSA catching contraband is a contradiction of sorts.
 
Joe Gremlin said:
Absolutely it would. Which is what I said. But I'd still want to kill the guy. As would anyone who cares that much about someone else. That doesn't mean I would. But it means I'd want to. And that was really my point to shdw. If he thinks what the TSA guy did is acceptable or no big deal, then he's never experienced feeling for another person the way I feel about my wife.
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I understand that anger completely. People take government intrusions into their personal freedoms lightly these days - its going to lead to more and more intrusiveness. It makes me really upset when I see some nice old lady getting harassed by these clowns.
 
I didn't know that the TSA also looked for "contraband". I thought they concentrated on security issues.
 
SteveC said:
I didn't know that the TSA also looked for "contraband". I thought they concentrated on security issues.
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There was actually a court ruling about that... they are NOT allowed to do general law enforcement duty. Only transportation security.
 
Litigating against the TSA might be a tiny bit more complex than meets the eye, and isn't even the first hurdle; figuring out if you have a claim is probably first, followed by trying to figure out if you can even sue the TSA for this. There are some limitations on suing the government.

This woman would be wise to speak with an attorney, but a whole lot of questions need to be answered prior to any claim being filed.
 
jtrain609 said:
Litigating against the TSA might be a tiny bit more complex than meets the eye, and isn't even the first hurdle; figuring out if you have a claim is probably first, followed by trying to figure out if you can even sue the TSA for this. There are some limitations on suing the government.

This woman would be wise to speak with an attorney, but a whole lot of questions need to be answered prior to any claim being filed.
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In the US sovereign immunity is waived in cases where a tortious act of a government employee causes damage. There are plenty of ways to establish damage in a case like this.
 
Joe Gremlin said:
In the US sovereign immunity is waived in cases where a tortious act of a government employee causes damage. There are plenty of ways to establish damage in a case like this.
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It's actually a little bit more involved than that.

But I mean let's assume she can jump through that hoop, then she's gotta establish that the employer is liable for the employee's actions.

And I mean once you get through that, you've gotta figure out which torts you're going to bring a claim based on.

I mean we're talking about hours and hours of research before I think you can even really begin to have some kind of an answer to this one, and then it's not even an answer; it just clears your way to make an ATTEMPT to start moving things through the court system. It's not as cut and dried as it looks.
 
I suspect she wouldn't have much trouble finding a lawyer would be more than willing to put in those hours of research for a case like this.
 
Joe Gremlin said:
I suspect she wouldn't have much trouble finding a lawyer would be more than willing to put in those hours of research for a case like this.
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Right, I'm not debating that.

I AM saying that there doesn't look to be a clear cut path here.

I mean it'd be much simpler if a rich guy saw her walking on the sidewalk and decided it would be a good idea to swerve his Porsche off the road and hit her. That's pretty straight forward, but this isn't so much.
 
Jtrain, why can't you go after the individual in civil court and also go after the TSA. Clearly they forgot to mention practical jokes are not acceptable in their training.

What is BS is the fact that if TSA screws they get retraining 9 times out of 10. If a cargo crewmember screws up they get fined.
 
Bandit_Driver said:
Jtrain, why can't you go after the individual in civil court and also go after the TSA. Clearly they forgot to mention practical jokes are not acceptable in their training.

What is BS is the fact that if TSA screws they get retraining 9 times out of 10. If a cargo crewmember screws up they get fined.
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On the surface it looks like there are issues of sovereign immunity (the state only allows citizens to sue the state for reasons that the state deems acceptable), employer liability for employee actions (which, depending on the jurisdiction, has multi part tests. In some jurisdictions the employer is not liable for the employees actions if they did not direct the employee to do something, which *could* be the case here), and then you need to name an actual tort (intentional infliction of emotional distress, let's say) and meet all the qualifiers for that.

It's a multi step process, with multiple steps within each process.
 
jtrain609 said:
On the surface it looks like there are issues of sovereign immunity (the state only allows citizens to sue the state for reasons that the state deems acceptable), employer liability for employee actions (which, depending on the jurisdiction, has multi part tests. In some jurisdictions the employer is not liable for the employees actions if they did not direct the employee to do something, which *could* be the case here), and then you need to name an actual tort (intentional infliction of emotional distress, let's say) and meet all the qualifiers for that.

It's a multi step process, with multiple steps within each process.
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Pain the rear but worth the challenge.
 
IF she knew the guy or she was traveling with a group of people who knew the guy and he pulled it on her, I'd say it was hilarious. To a total stranger with times like they are and many nervous travelers, I don't find it funny. At all. And I have a pretty raunchy sense of humor.
 
shdw said:
Just a general comment. People make it sound like the guy should have his fingernails ripped off and be stoned to death. It was a joke, admittedly poorly executed, but a joke non the less. A person suffered 20 seconds of stress, by god if that is the worst wrongful thing that happens in any of our lives I would take it.
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:eek:

Sorry man but the TSA is there for a reason. They could have made this young ladies day real bad real fast. How would you explain or how could they get any respect back?
 
I'm not sure where I heard this story but it describes why you should probably keep practical jokes away from where you have to be professional. There was this DPE that would, at a high altitude, conduct an emergency procedures TASK by reaching over turning the magnetos 'OFF' and removing the key. A few CFIs felt that this practice was unsafe but he was the only DPE around and aside from that he had a really good pass rate, was easy going and dependable. So they decided to teach him a lesson by playing a practical joke... they told their next student what to expect, but they told him what else to do. Without the DPE knowing they went and made an extra copy of the airplane key which the student kept in his pocket. Student went on his checkride and sure enough, DPE had him climb up and then reached over and turned the ignition off and took the key out. The student reacted quickly! He grabbed the key out of the DPE's hand, opened the window and threw it out!

The DPE was like 'W - T -F did you just do?!' For some reason, maybe the DPE's tone, but the student froze up and forgot he had the second key in his pocket for a while. Eventually remembered and they started the engine before they got too low, but could have been worse.

To those saying 'it's just a joke' -- to the flying public the TSA appears to have a lot more authority than they actually do. They're "Officers" after all and have a gold badge and everything. How would you feel if a cop played a joke on you by planting a weapon or drugs on you? While in your head you see your professional future just evaporate for no reason he yells: Psyche! That isn't a joke, that is psychological torture.

There is a test-switch in the Dash-8 that you can surreptiously hit that will have the fire detect lights / horn go off. Is that a practical joke? What if someone freaked out and blew through the flows and had the T-handle(s) pulled before you said 'Psyche!'?

Any other profession is the same way. What if your doctor said 'You have AIDS!!!.... Psyche!'

I'm all for practical jokes, but it seems to me that they should be kept away from your "primary responsibility" -- for pilots on the ground, for TSA when they're not working, etc. And never against someone you don't know how they'd react.
 
What will be next for the TSA to totally screw up? The list is long and growing. They must be reigned in
 
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