Questions Language Used To Describe Pilot's Mood After Failing Exams

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard oral arguments on Monday in a case involving an Air Wisconsin pilot who had sued the airline and won a $1.4 million judgment in the case.

The central issue was whether the airline used language that could be misinterpreted when it reported to TSA that pilot William Hoeper was "mentally unstable" after failing a series of test needed to qualify in a new type of aircraft. Hoeper left the fourth test abruptly, cursing and shouting, according to a report in the New York Times.

It was also reported to TSA that as a flight deck officer, Hoeper might be armed on the plane.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the description provided to TSA was too strong. "Why choose the words ‘mentally unstable’? Isn’t it with an intent to connote something more than the facts?” A lawyer for the airline countered that federal law encourages quick, if informal, reports of "suspicious activities" without having to be concerned about "hairsplitting distinctions" later.

The Colorado Supreme Court determined that Mr. Hoeper's actions may have warranted a call to TSA, but writing for that court's majority, Chief Justice Nancy Rice said the report to TSA “overstated those events to such a degree that they were made with reckless disregard of their truth or falsity.”

Justice Antonin Scalia said that the there is a difference between someone being mentally unstable and simply losing his or her temper. But he added that such a statement is only materially false if authorities would have reacted differently after being told a person is angry rather than being told they are "mentally unstable."

The justices also considered the effects of the TSA's "if you see something, say something" policy of quickly reporting "suspicious" activity.

A lawyer for Mr. Hoeper said SCOTUS should use a 1991 decision in a case involving a profile written for a magazine that was eventually deemed slanderous as precedent to find for his client. But Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote that opinion for the court, said there is a difference between a journalist who has months to write a story with editors and proofreaders and "the baggage handler who has only 10 minutes to decide what he’s going to say.”

FMI: www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/12-315.htm