Sometimes the most unexpected of moments can alter the course of your life. And sometimes, the internet catches hold of them and they go viral. If you could bottle that lightning, marketers around the globe would be having a field day.
This is not, of course, always a good thing. April 9th was the day that the name Dr David Dao, a 69 year old Vietnamese immigrant who came to the states in 1975, echoed around the World Wide Web as a result of the now-infamous overbooking on United Airlines Flight 3411.But you already know that story.
On Tuesday's Ray D'Arcy Show, Dao's lawyer, Thomas Demetrio, spoke about what happened next.
Dr Dao's injuries were undoubtedly shocking.
"…his two front top teeth were knocked out… I mean literally knocked out. His nose was broken and he suffered a concussion."
Throw emotional distress and humiliation on the world stage into the mix and you've got yourself one really bad day at the airport.
According to Thomas Demetrio, United employees made no attempt to ask how his health was prior to his removal. "They treated him as if he were a young 22 year old hurling player" says Demetrio, but not in a complimentary way.
While it's no secret that a settlement was reached, the amount agreed upon is tightly under wraps. Despite Ray's best efforts to get even a whiff of a ballpark figure, Demetrio remained tight lipped. "You can't even give us a hint?"
"It's a straight forward personal injury settlement between a defendant who took full responsibility for the occurrence publicly and quickly… and a plaintiff, and it's for a certain amount of dollars and there you go!"
"Were you allowed to name your figure?" asks Ray. They were, it seems. And United obligingly paid out the sum "again, to United's credit," says Demetrio. The airline has also changed its policy on overbookings and will now pay passengers up to $10,000 compensation should they be asked to leave their plane.
And so Dr Dao's terrible ordeal reaches an end, in the courts at least, and while he may have reached an amicable agreement with United Airlines, Ray is curious if he'll ever fly with the aforementioned airline again. Demetrio reckons that'd be a flat-out no.
"I would be surprised that he would ever do that! No, I don't think so…. I think he's Aer Lingus material."
Aer Lingus and the game of hurling getting name checked in the same interview, by an American lawyer? Kudos to Thomas Demetrio who, despite the Greek origin of his name, is actually three quarters Irish, as he was keen to tell Ray. As you will hear from the full interview, his inheritance of the Irish gift of the gab is certainly not in doubt.
That full interview is available here.