Hotline complaint

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airborne840

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airborne840
I had a FAA safety hotline complaint against me that turned out to be unsubstantiated. The FAA closed my case and I eventually regained my 1st class Medical. As a result of this false claim and while I was investigated for 13 months, I did lose my medical for a period of time. Does anyone know if these hotline complaints can be addressed as false reporting? I’d like to hire a laywer for defamation but unsure where to begin.
 
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In fact, even if you were able to find out who made the complaint, which you will find difficult because you're not entitled to that (only enough information of the complaint to defend against the complaint itself is authorized), you have to show that the person didn't have a percieved indication of the violation. Just becaue the comlaint was unfounded or eve rose to being false, doesn't make it defamation. Civil suits on these lines are notoriously hard to win (and unless the person you win against has the ability to pay a judgement, you'll end up with nothing but legal bills).
 
Ya not a good situation overall. To add insult to the claim, it came from my mother in law. She later admitted that she did it out of anger. I’m happy that I got my medical back but lost a significant amount of Income as a result of being without a medical while they investigated this claim.
 
Sounds to me like your MIL is the culprit.

The FAA has a public safety mandate, so every complaint must be investigated. Unfortunately it allows people with an axe to grind to use it against people.
 
airborne840 said:
I’d like to hire a laywer for defamation but unsure where to begin.
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Consulting with a defamation lawyer in your state would be a good place to begin. A good one would likely provide a free or reduced fee consult. But don't expect to see a contingent fee ("we don't get paid unless you win") arrangement even if you were forced out of out of work for those 13 months.
 
airborne84 said:
Ya not a good situation overall. To add insult to the claim, it came from my mother in law. She later admitted that she did it out of anger. I’m happy that I got my medical back but lost a significant amount of Income as a result of being without a medical while they investigated this claim.
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MIL and FAA?

You would have better luck suing a station wagon filled with nuns.
 
I don’t get what process is in place if someone persists.
You get a complaint, your life is a living hell for a year, then the person files another complaint.
(or has their equally vindictive friend file for them)
 
I don't get how you lost your medical. It isnt automatically revoked just because the FAA receives a hotline complaint. They investigate it first and if they find evidence you violated something you will get a letter saying what you did a d that your medical is no longer valid. Did you get a letter and if so what did it say? It doesn't sound like the FAA necessarily found everything unsubstantiated.
 
yeah. suck it up. u will waste and lose more money on a lawyer to no positive effect. they feast on angry vengeful people
 
Often the best punishment you can give someone like that is to ignore them completely.
 
nauga said:
Since there are no consequences, how does a "divorce" (sic) stop her or even disincentivize her from doing it again?

Nauga,
feeling punitive
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Exactly, and at what point can you interpret this as violation of 6th amendment and right to face your accuser? While the reporting itself isn’t criminal the accusations certainly can be and regardless it certainly has the result of being “punished” without due process and not in a “speedy” means of resolution.

So many things wrong with how the FAA administrates.
 
UTLonghorn_1979 said:
Exactly, and at what point can you interpret this as violation of 6th amendment and right to face your accuser? While the reporting itself isn’t criminal the accusations certainly can be and regardless it certainly has the result of being “punished” without due process and not in a “speedy” means of resolution.

So many things wrong with how the FAA administrates.
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“Your accuser” is not the person who makes the complaint, it’s the FAA. If it ended up in a court, it would be “FAA vs Joe Pilot,” Not “Joe’s MIL vs Joe Pilot.”

Whether that’s still something with the way the FAA administrates is still possible, but it’s important to make valid arguments if you’re going to make arguments.
 
MauleSkinner said:
“Your accuser” is not the person who makes the complaint, it’s the FAA. If it ended up in a court, it would be “FAA vs Joe Pilot,” Not “Joe’s MIL vs Joe Pilot.”

Whether that’s still something with the way the FAA administrates is still possible, but it’s important to make valid arguments if you’re going to make arguments.
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I disagree. That’s like saying if I am your neighbor and report you for domestic abuse/disturbance to the police and the police arrest you and investigates, it’s the police that is the accuser.

The FAA is the group administering the complaint/accusation, they aren’t the source of the complaint-accusation. The police are the same. The only difference is there are laws, even if imperfectly handled, that address what’s needed before rights are taken away.

The FAA could learn from that.
 
UTLonghorn_1979 said:
I disagree. That’s like saying if I am your neighbor and report you for domestic abuse/disturbance to the police and the police arrest you and investigates, it’s the police that is the accuser.

The FAA is the group administering the complaint/accusation, they aren’t the source of the complaint-accusation. The police are the same. The only difference is there are laws, even if imperfectly handled, that address what’s needed before rights are taken away.

The FAA could learn from that.
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so why would being able to face your accuser important in the OP’s case or in your example?
 
This is another giant AOPA failure that we simply accept. AOPA should be fighting tooth and nail to get rid of this mechanism (or make it more fair).
 
UTLonghorn_1979 said:
You’re just arguing to argue. If you don’t intrinsically see the merits of being able to face your accuser, I’m not going to waste any more time and effort here.
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I see the merits of being able to face your accuser. I don’t see “revenge” as being one of them, I don’t believe “your accuser” means what you think it does, and I don’t believe knowing who made the complaint would make a difference in either of the two scenarios mentioned.
 
MauleSkinner said:
I see the merits of being able to face your accuser. I don’t see “revenge” as being one of them, I don’t believe “your accuser” means what you think it does, and I don’t believe knowing who made the complaint would make a difference in either of the two scenarios mentioned.
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You’re quite the mind reader.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Consulting with a defamation lawyer in your state would be a good place to begin. A good one would likely provide a free or reduced fee consult. But don't expect to see a contingent fee ("we don't get paid unless you win") arrangement even if you were forced out of out of work for those 13 months.
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Ignore every other post in this thread. Especially the ones taking a categorical position on what you can or can't do. The only way to get a good answer to your question is to share the details with an attorney familiar with your state's law. If you tell us what state that is, someone might know someone.
 
Lindberg said:
Ignore every other post in this thread. Especially the ones taking a categorical position on what you can or can't do. The only way to get a good answer to your question is to share the details with an attorney familiar with your state's law.
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Agreed. Not a lawyer, but is there a way to take an administrative law false/erroneous accusation and turn that into a civil matter due to financal and personal damages?
 
I have no problem with the faa taking anony complaints. I have no problem with them doing a basic check to see if there is evidence besides the complaint. But taking an anonymous complaint does make them the accuser. And if there is no readily available evidence provided on a cursory check then they should drop the investigation, not prosecute it to the point of financial impact before dropping it.

In fact, I made a named complaint with video evidence and they basically went and talked to the guy and then dropped it. So some of them are not tyrants.
 
Salty said:
So taking away your rights is ok since you didn’t commit a crime. Makes sense to me.
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I agree with your view, but as everyone will comment, flying is not a right. As much as I hate this argument, unfortunately it’s correct as things stand now. But there are many things that I believe are gov overreach done in the name of safety that absolutely reduce liberty. I tend to err on the side of liberty, but that’s clearly not a popular stance on this forum.
 
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