I guess if you practice long enough you'll probably see all sorts of wild scenarios. But unless you practice aviation disaster litigation...You probably never grounded an American Airlines 757 with a Temporary Restraining Order. Well I was able to do it one time.
On an American Airlines flight from one of the New York Airports to the Dominican Republic, before takeoff a small fire broke out in the kitchen. The emergency slides were activated , but malfuctioned and while disembarking my client suffered a compound fractured leg.
We filed suit in Supreme Court Queens County and simultaneously filed an Order to Show Cause seeking an inspection and photographing of the plane and "emergency slide ". I requested a temporary restraining order as well, basically "grounding the plane " until our inspection could be performed.
Well the TRO was granted and it was served on American Airlines at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. At 4:30 I received a call from one of their attorneys advising us to be at a specified hangar at JFK at midnight , ready to inspect. They were in a desperate rush to get that plane " ungrounded". Time of course, is $!
So I take my engneer and investigator and we head out to JFK for a "midnight party".We arrive at this enormous indoor hangar, met by counsel and an American supervisor-type. We spent the next two hours as "busy as bees " inspecting and photographing everything we could think of. Yikes, those planes are not small.
By 2 a.m. we called it a night...I was bushed and had Court that morning... the case later settled.
Moral of the Story; Never be afraid to ask for something; You may get it!
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