Airline fires lawyer who blamed 9-year-old for incident with flight attendant

American Airlines has fired the legal team that claimed a 9-year-old girl should have known she was being filmed by a flight attendant while using the airplane bathroom, the company confirmed to the New York Post on Wednesday (29 May).

An outside law firm claimed the victim’s injuries were caused by her “own fault and negligence” and that she “knew or should have known” that there was “a visible and illuminated recording device” in the airplane lavatory she was using.

“We do not believe this child is to blame and we take the allegations against a former team member very seriously,” American Airlines said in its statement to the New York Post.

The lawyer’s claim was made in legal documents filed last Monday (May 20) as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by the girl’s family against the airline. Estes Carter Thompson III37, of Charlotte, was arrested in 2023 for allegedly filming several girls between the ages of 7 and 14 over a period of several months, according to federal prosecutors.

However, the lawyer claimed in the lawsuit that the nine-year-old should have known at the time of the incident that a device was recording her.

“Any injuries or illnesses allegedly sustained by Plaintiff Mary Doe were proximately caused by Plaintiff’s fault and negligence, directly caused by Plaintiff’s use of the damaged lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device,” said one of the several defense arguments presented by American Airlines’ attorneys.

Paul LlewellynA lawyer representing the girl’s family said they were “absolutely furious” at the airline’s claim.

“I was absolutely shocked and find it outrageous,” said Llewellyn the New York Post“The idea that American Airlines and its lawyers would blame a nine-year-old girl for the filming is, in my opinion, simply a sign of desperation and depravity.

“What on earth is American Airlines thinking when they implement such a strategy?”

The 9-year-old victim’s parents claim the incident occurred during a flight to Los Angeles in January 2023, before another incident that led to his arrest.

“It felt like we were living in a nightmare when the FBI showed up at our doorstep and told us that our daughter had been secretly filmed by an American Airlines flight attendant,” the victim’s family previously said in a statement to the daily mail.

“Since then, our daughter has struggled with fear and anxiety. We are doing everything we can to support her during this traumatic time,” they added. “An important part of our family’s healing is making sure the flight attendant and American Airlines are held accountable for what happened to our daughter. We hope this lawsuit is the first step in ensuring something like this never happens to another family again.”

Thompson was arrested on Jan. 18 and charged with attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. The former flight attendant allegedly filmed a 14-year-old while she was working as a crew member on a flight from Charlotte to Boston in September 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said in a press release.

Thompson allegedly approached the girl as she waited for an occupied bathroom in the main cabin. He then escorted her to a first-class bathroom before saying he needed to wash his hands and claiming the toilet seat was broken. The girl entered the bathroom shortly after and noticed red stickers on the underside of an open toilet lid that read “NON-FUNCTIONING FOOD EQUIPMENT” and “TAKE OUT OF SERVICE,” according to prosecutors.

Authorities found 11 stickers in Thompson’s suitcase that were similar to the ones the girl had discovered. During a search of his iCloud account, they found four recordings of children between the ages of seven and 14, including the nine-year-old victim. The recordings are said to have been taken between January and August 2023. The children were using the toilet on the plane.

The 37-year-old was “immediately removed from duty” and has not worked for American Airlines since the incident, the company said in a statement. CNN after his arrest.