Skycaps may have to go back to court over lost tips

(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe/file)

An American Airlines skycap checked baggage at Logan International Airport in December.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

Eight current and former American Airlines skycaps who were awarded $283,114 for tips they lost when the airline implemented curbside baggage fees may have to return to court again to battle for the money.

US District Judge William G. Young on Thursday ordered a new trial in the lawsuit brought by the eight skycaps, who were employed by the airline's Texas-based subcontractor, G2 Secure Staff. A federal jury awarded them the money on April 7 after the airline allegedly violated the state's tips law.

Young said he erroneously accepted a broad interpretation of the law by the skycaps and should have posed an additional question on the jury slip.

In a retrial, the jury would be asked to determine whether passengers who paid $2 fees to check in bags at the curbside beginning in September 2005 expected the money to go to the G2 skycaps. If the jury found that was the expectation, the previous award would stand.

The judge's order for a new trial does not apply to a ninth skycap, Don DiFiore, because he has worked directly for American since 1983. He was awarded $41,886 for tips he lost as a result of the $2 baggage fees.

Young encouraged the G2 skycaps to ask the state Supreme Judicial Court to review his interpretation of the tips law and said he would abide by the high court's views.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston lawyer representing the skycaps, said she will ask Young to reconsider his ruling. If he declines, she will take it to the state's highest court, as he suggested.

"We persuaded the jury that passengers reasonably believed that the money should go to the skycaps, so I believe that a new trial is not necessary," she said.

American said in a statement it was "extremely pleased" that the judge had granted its request for a new trial for the G2 skycaps.

On May 29, American bowed to pressure from the skycaps and agreed to drop the $2 fee at airports throughout the country and to lift a ban on tips for skycaps at Logan International Airport beginning June 15. In exchange, the skycaps at Logan agreed to drop a federal claim that accused the airline of imposing the tips ban May 1 in retaliation for the skycaps' victory in their lawsuit.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com

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