Based on news reports from the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday March 18, 2014, it appears that we were all caught off guard by Terry Maxon’s Article and revelation that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane was prepared to release a Decision concerning the 1114, based on American Airlines filing for adversary proceeding. The International Union was left to wonder why we had not received this piece of information prior to its release to our members and the public at large. Upon further review of the situation it was discovered that the 1114 topic of retiree benefits did not appear on Judge Lanes calendar for discussion or review and was raised without prior notice. In fact it was a notification to Judge Lane from American Airlines attorney Stephen Karotkin, stating that they had notified the attorneys for the Committee of Retired Employees about their intent to shift the cost to them in the coming months. Judge Lane questioned the notice of modification and the fact this issue was still under his judicial review. During that verbal exchange Judge Lane stated that he was weeks away from issuing his own decision concerning the summary judgment motion. Based on the above and lack of formal notice to our counsel or us, there was no way we could have anticipated this verbal exchange of information in the court room. We hope this adds some clarity to how this information was disseminated.
Fraternally,
David J. Virella
International Representative
AA System Coordinator
Transport Workers Union