I heard gossip that the Doc had caused an incident before boarding, has a suspended medical license, so no patients to see, and was hostile to a flight attendant before this happened.

Probably not true but curious if there isn't more to this story than is available in the media. Thoughts?

Delta upped the ante for bumping passengers. Now offering up to $10k to be bumped! Delta Will Pay Up to $10,000 to Overbooked Flight Passengers | Time.com

Why would the W.H. would get involved in that kind of Fake News...

i heard gossip the guy that filmed the event was actually a hollywood director who is trying to make it big. Set up the whole thing. Don't know why the media is not all over that

Haven't heard about incident before boarding- is this regarding hostility to a flight attendant? Dao's history is truly scummy from what I've ready (if true), but completely irrelevant to the incident. There's a video of him discussing the request for him to leave the plane, and he seemed remarkably calm and rational in that video. He was supposedly practicing medicine one day a week at one location, so he could have had patients the next day. Even if so, United took a wrong turn when they insisted he be forcefully removed, resulting in his injuries.

Seriously? You need to get your "gossip" from someone other than the lady at your laundromat. All of the video I have seen has been from obvious cell phone footage. Do you work for United?

It was a joke, saying how accurate gossip can be. SmileWavy

How about checking out the truth or falsity of "gossip" before deliberately spreading it.

"I heard gossip that Chocaholic has cheated other Pelicans and ripped people off on the for sale board. Probably not true but curious if there isn't something to it. Thoughts?"

Credibility in the minds of the jurors. The sure thing UAL defense would introduce.

Fruit of the poisonous tree.
He was supposedly 'knocked unconscious and dragged, coma, with both front teeth knocked out' according to Dao's lawyer's statements.
But yet he somehow breaks free from heavy security and there he is back in the airplane having a rational conversation in front of all like nothing happened.
Hey what's going on here? That doesn't make sense.
The lawyers are lying. He's pulling a fast one. You cant trust anything else they say.

Pulling a fast one is also next on the list.

Turn the hate in the opposite direction.
He's degenerate elite doctor trading drugs for sex and lying about his schedule and now he wants a billion dollars from the airline after throwing a tantrum and delaying the flight for everyone only for his own agenda.
Greedy bastard. He's not one of of us honest working folks.
If the airline is punished, it will raise rates for everyone who wants to travel.
This guy is a special snowflake bringing down the whole industry.

He was already offered $500-1M and now he wants a billion.
Thus damages for injury should be next to nil.
Punish him instead.

David Dao: 5 Things to Know About Man Dragged from United Airlines Flight
People Ragazine claims he has some legal issues and is still under partial suspension of his medical privileges.....

Counter argue shock, adrenaline, concussion.

Last time I had a concussion was on a Saturday, drove 5 hours home from the ski house on Sunday, started a new job that Monday, woke up in the ER Tuesday, last thing I remembered was from the previous Friday, friends and family filled in the blanks.

None of his prior history is relevant in supporting that argument until after the beat down so they'd have to successfully argue he had prior knowledge that it would go that way.

The prior history will most likely be inadmissible due to lack of relevance.

Possibly some of it could be relevant to damages (e.g. if the doctor claims loss of income, the status of his medical license would be relevant) but his counsel will avoid seeking damages that open the door to damaging evidence.

There is no upside for United to litigate this.

There is a plane full of people who will be brought in to testify that the doc was calm and not combative. Put that one woman on the stand and it's game over.

They are going to have to bend over and take what they know is coming. The best they can do is negotiate some lube.

Well said.

Looking ahead to a plan Risk Managers will come up with for future incidents of this nature:

This incident would have gotten hardly any press without video. So, in the future: You are seated ready for take-off and someone refuses to give up their seat, what do you think will happen?

Yep, Security issue, Everyone off. Security comes in to deal with the person. No witnesses, no cameras.

Just a thought.

Think it through further. Deplaning and replaning will delay flight by 1 hour. Delay ripples through system, 100s of angry passengers, hurts airline's on-time record. Airline will try to avoid this. Result: airline will be less likely to remove already-boarded passengers.

Yeah, that's a possibility^^. However, this incident is more likely to result in policies that prevent the removal of seated passengers altogether rather than an escalation to forcible removal and further delays by deplaning all passengers to allow such a removal. Remember, this incident was basically a one-off. Airlines rarely, if ever, remove seated passengers to free up space for employees--that is done prior to boarding. Same with over booking. Airlines will go out of their way to take care of seating issues prior to boarding. Should something slip through the cracks, they will allow their employees flexibility to make decisions that resolve the situation without the forcible removal of a seated passenger. The United incident will not soon be forgotten and an airline that tries to "hide" a removal by deplaning all passengers to remove the person, undercover, will soon be outed on social media.

You can bet on it.

I could not agree more. However, in a parallel universe last week, Munoz was oddly combative:

United CEO: Passenger 'disruptive belligerent'

United CEO Oscar Munoz doubled down in a letter to employees on Monday evening, claiming that employees "followed established procedures" when removing a passenger from a plane because it was overbooked, and calling the passenger "disruptive and belligerent."

United had to ask several passengers who had already boarded a flight from Chicago to Louisville on Sunday evening to leave, as the airline had sold too many tickets. One man refused to leave, and United called airport officials, who forcibly removed him from the plane.

Video circulated of the incident earlier in the day, showing the man being dragged from the plane and later returning with blood on his face. The incident drew scorn on Twitter and other social media, especially when Munoz used the euphemism "re-accomodate" in a public statement to describe the customers booted from the flight.

According to the letter, which was obtained by CNBC, when crew members first approached the passenger to tell him to leave, he "raised his voice and refused to comply," and each time they asked again "he refused and became more and more disruptive and belligerent."

Crew members "were left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight," Munoz wrote, and at one point the passenger "continued to resist - running back onto the aircraft in defiance of both our crew and security officials."

Munoz acknowledged to employees that the company could learn lessons from the incident, but said: "I emphatically stand behind all of you."

Munoz may be getting dragged out of the United Boardroom soon if he doesn't get his PR folks out of hibernation and in front of this.

LOL, it looks like the media has finally caught on to the release, I just saw it blown up in bold print on TV news.

So another flub by United, it just makes them look worse, like they are trying to appear to do a good thing, but are really trying to trick their customers into unknowingly agreeing to a $300 settlement.

The release is sneaky because it springs without you signing anything.

Most people just get the check and deposit it. They don't read the long, small print document that comes with it, that has the release language buried in it. The language says by cashing the check you to agree to release the airline from all claims.

I'd guess that in real life 90% of people don't realize what they're doing when they deposit the check.