Are the Flying Imams suing the passengers who reported their suspicious behavior, or aren’t they? Perhaps Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR, which supports this suit (the Imams’ attorney was as of 2006 a leader of CAIR-NY), could clear this up for us, if he can take time out from defaming me long enough to look into it. A Flying Imams Update from the indefatigable Audrey Hudson at the Washington Times:
A legal squabble in a lawsuit brought by Muslim imam passengers is escalating among lawyers over the question of who is being sued over their removal from a flight last year.
“John Doe” passengers are named as parties in the litigation for reporting suspicious behavior of the six men, which led to their removal from the flight. Employees of U.S. Airways and a Minneapolis airport are also targets of the lawsuit now proceeding through a federal court.
One of the attorneys representing the six Muslim men says they do not intend to pursue the passengers in litigation, but the Becket Fund, which is aiding the defendants in the case, says “John Doe” passengers remain listed as a party to the lawsuit and are still targets of the litigation.
Frederick J. Goetz, the imams’ attorney in Minnesota, said the passengers are no longer included in the lawsuit, and referenced a footnote in one motion of several he filed on Aug. 2. The footnote says, “Plaintiffs also agree to strike paragraphs 21 and 22 of the first amended complaint and the dismissal of the parties named therein” “” the paragraphs that identify unknown “John Doe” passengers who reported some of the imams’ activities to flight attendants.
“The issue is moot. I don’t know why [the Becket Fund] is grandstanding,” Mr. Goetz told The Washington Times.
Pat Hogan, a spokesman for the airport, said its attorneys have not been alerted that the passengers have been released from the lawsuit filed on March 12.