Originally Posted by
SASless
Why would the Operator think ATC played a role in this and should be held liable in Court?
I think this has been covered in the topic already. There's no way the operator truly thinks that, not in a million years. The operator and their lawyers are just waging what some would call "lawfare".
And don't forget that if any of this goes to a jury trial the likelihood of any aviation professional be empaneled as a juror is very, very small. Thus ultimately it will almost certainly be non-aviators passing judgement on the case.