Cornelius C. Chase
Capella University
BUS3021 – Fundamentals of Business Law
Professor Cynthia Geppert
Abstract
In a defamation action brought by plaintiff-terminated employee, Hoeper, against defendant-airline, Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp, for statements made to the Transportation Security Administration regarding their concerns involving the location of plaintiff's weapon and his stability upon his termination, judgment for plaintiff is reversed and remanded, where: 1) immunity may not be denied under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) to materially true statements; 2) under the correct material falsity analysis, defendant-airline is entitled to immunity as a matter of law.
Keywords: Air Wisconsin Airlines, Transportation Security Administration, and Tort Law
Case Law Analysis
Tort is defined as a civil wrong not arising from a breach of contact, a breach of a legal duty that proximately causes harm or injury to another (Cross & Miller, 2012). The law of torts aim is to restore the harmed citizen to the place they were prior to the wrongdoing or before the tort happened to them. The tort system deters companies from putting profits ahead of safety, helps limit the government’s role, and gives average people a way to influence powerful businesses and institutions and change their dangerous practices and policies. In the this case, we discuss the results of an appeal in a tort course case.
Respondent Hoeper was a pilot Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp having been employed with the company for an unknown amount of time. When Air Wisconsin stopped flying from Hoeper's home base on aircraft that he was certified to fly, he needed to become certified on a different type of aircraft to keep his job. After Hoeper failed his first 3 attempts at the certification process, Air Wisconsin granted Hoeper a fourth and final assessment. Hoeper failed to do well on the final assessment, and in anger, began raising his voice,