As soon as I saw the video of city aviation police dragging David Dao from a United Airlines plane, I said, “It’s a damn shame Dao can’t get Philip Corboy to file his lawsuit.”
The case involved a retired Illinois supreme court judge named Thomas Kluczynski and his wife, Melanie, who were bumped from a Delta flight in 1976 because the airline had overbooked the flight.
Back then, this case was big news on my beat. Lawyers were in awe of Corboy. In fact, the rapture with which they described his performance in the Kluczynski case reminded me of old hoopsters talking about the day in the 70s when playground legend Billy “the Kid” Harris dropped about 70 points in a pickup game at Margate Park.
The case came down to Corboy’s ability to deliver in his closing argument. “This is a case,” he began, involving “the civil rights of the passengers of this community, the fare-paying people who believe when they pay for a ticket, they get the ticket to get to their destination.”
And as long as we’re paying homage to masterful performances—well done, Touhy!
It was apparent from yesterday’s press conference that Demetrio had learned a trick or two from his mentor. “Will there be a lawsuit?” Demetrio said in response to a question. “Yeah, probably.”
