Man violently removed from United Airlines plane. ~Update~ United may have broken the law.

[binary solo]

VGPolyglot said:

binary solo said:

Doesn't necessarily mean the law has been broken. The plane is private property, and when the owner of the property is legally able to demand that you leave then there is likely to be a legal defence of reasonable use of force in what amounts to trespass. 

If someone can assert the right to shoot and kill someone for stepping on their property without permission, then surely non-lethal forceable removal from private property is likely to be defencible in court.

So, if someone pays rent to live in an apartment, you think that the landlord should be allowed to force him out to let one of his buddies stay, getting the police to beat him up and drag him out?

Depends on the terms of the rental agreement obviously. You'd be kinda dumb to sign such a rental agreement, but if you were domb enough to sign it with that sort of condition, then yeah, the landlord would have a defence for forcibly removing you if they have a lawful basis for demanding your departure.

That's how contracts work, you abide by the terms of the contract or you suffer the consequences. If the terms of the United ticket, which represents a contract for service, says that you can be bumped at any time for specified reasons then you are bound by that contract and United is entitled to enforce it. And if necessary to vacate you from their private property possibly be legally justified in using physical force.

And don;t equate United employees with "buddies". They are employed under contract too, which both the employee and United are obliged to comply, and that will include getting them to where they are required to be to do their job. Or to be delivered back to their home after ending their shift under specific terms. Are you wanting to prefer the passenger's rights over the rights of the conditions for the United workers? 

Should United be a lot more organised in managing passenger and staff logitics? No doubt. But that doesn't change the probably lawful rights United has given itself in tickets.