One of the issues raised during Tuesday’s video addressing the details of the lawsuit against former Jaguars kicker Brandon McManus was whether and to what extent the flight attendants who have sued McManus and the Jaguars previously complained to their employer, Atlas Air, about the situation.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, they did.
There will be a question, however, as to whether their report to Atlas Air meshes with the contents of the civil complaint filed last Friday in Florida.
If they hadn’t complained to Atlas Air, the defendants would have seized on that omission — especially if Atlas Air has policies encouraging prompt reporting of such incidents. However, if the information provided to Atlas Air conflicts with the information in the complaint, that will become fodder for aggressive efforts by the defendants to show that the version in the complaint is not credible.
The issue will initially come to a head during the deposition testimony of the plaintiffs. At that time, they’ll undoubtedly be grilled about any and all inconsistencies, setting the stage for an aggressive cross-examination at trial — or a settlement on terms favorable to the defense.
Meanwhile, an unnamed member of the Jaguars roster reportedly told The U.S. Sun that he “saw the incident and claimed the kicker was out of order and crossed the line.”
“Some people think that their definition of ‘fun’ is one way, but others think it’s not ‘fun’ to do certain things, and to behave in a bad way or cross the line of respect towards women,” the unnamed player told The U.S. Sun. “You can’t behave like it happened, we have to set a good example for people and for everyone around, fans, workers, and everybody else. . . . You could tell that the vibe and the whole situation was making things tense and very weird.”
If the unnamed player cares to elaborate, we’re easy to find. As are plenty of other reporters.
At some point, the unnamed player won’t be able to reside in anonymity. To prepare the case properly, everyone on that plane will need to be questioned under oath to see what was or wasn’t seen and/or heard, including all players.
That’s the biggest difference between this case and the Deshaun Watson litigation. In the Watson cases, there were two people in the room. In this case, there were many witnesses in position to observe.
