Originally Posted by
costalpilot
the issue was not about the difference between a civil and a criminal charge. It was only about the nature of a filing document, i.e. the Complaint.
and whether or not the observation that the "suit" appears "long on accusation and short on evidence" was helpful or not.
as My Cousin Vinny would say, "I'm not laying my cards on the table b4 the bid."
Your point is well taken that what has been filed to date is merely the complaint, and that evidence would be normally presented later, at trial. It's worth noting though, that the complaint only makes reference to what the plaintiff (Pina) was allegedly told, by a third party about what the hotel security video showed. If I were filing a complaint, and I had video whcih proved my claims, I'd phrase it as; "the video shows ... " not as; " I was told by X that the video shows ..." This seems to
suggest that the plaintiff in not in possession of that video, and has not even seen it herself. Yes, it could be a case of keeping cards close to the chest until the right moment, but I'm not sure what advantage can be gained from that with the video. Supposedly, Alaska's attorney has seen the video, and it either shows what Pina claims it shows, or it doesn't. If it does, then there's no element of surprise to be gained because company representatives have already seen it, and Pina has already made statements about what she claims it shows. Also, given that Pina has embarked on a media campaign regarding her allegations with interviews and appearances, it seems if there was video which showed the Captain dragging her into his room while she tries to escape, and she was in possession of said video, she would providing it to the media outlets she is using for her campaign. Certainly seeing a video clip of that would turn me from a "wait and see" skeptic to someone who believes her account. I would imagine a lot of others would be the same. So in consideration of all that, I'm thinking that she doesn't have the video and/or it doesn't show what she claims, and it may not even exist any more.