Passengers v. Southwest

I’m a regular reader of Jeanne Leblanc’s “Coach Class” blog at courant.com.

Yesterday, she posted about passengers suing Southwest over its failure to adequately inspect planes.

Needless to say, Ms. Leblanc gets it right:

Four passengers and a lawyer are trying to get a class-action suit going against Southwest Airlines over its failure to adequately inspect some of its planes.

I’m not sure I get this. It was my understanding that you don’t win lawsuits because someone did something wrong. You win lawsuits because someone did something wrong and it harmed you.

Everytime I read about something like this it makes me cringe.

 In my opinion, cases like this perpetuate the myth that lawyers will sue for anything.

If a plane crashed then the estates of the passengers have every right to bring suit against Southwest.

There is no question that Southwest should inspect its planes. The 10.3 million dollar fine by the FAA should have gotten their attention.

Really, its cases like this, that in my opinion, help corporate defendants plant the seed that all plaintiffs are greedy.

It’s only a matter of tim until I read about how lawyers are responsible for higher airline tickets.