Originally Posted by
EPIRB
A legal question. In the above case, if aircraft X had to break suddenly because aircraft Y had prematurely called ready and both the SMC and TWR controllers had cleared both aircraft to intersection Juliet, who is responsible if a flight attendant in aircraft X was moving around the cabin and fell over and was injured due to the sudden breaking?
The controller ideally should have made clear who was giving way or who was first to the holding point before the situation reaches this stage. Very occasionally, if they've missed the conflict or been caught up with other traffic there may be uncertainty.
In this case hopefully the pilot would query who was giving way before sudden braking was required. Separation on taxiways is a joint controller/pilot responsibility.