LITTLE ROCK — Jim Struthers' boss testified Monday that he found out Struthers was "involved" with a American Airlines Flight 1420 survivor six months after the affair started. He told Struthers he should break it off but did not reprimand him or report the relationship to the corporation's headquarters.
The affair continued three more months.
Later, Anthony Pliszka, who heads American's operations in Toronto, was instructed to fire Struthers for inappropriate contact with the survivor, Nancy Chu of Little Rock.
Instead, Pliszka gave him a raise.
The relationship between Chu and Struthers is central to Chu's damages lawsuit against American. The trial of that lawsuit has entered its second week before Judge Henry Woods in U.S. District Court.
Struthers, a 28-year-old gate and baggage agent, had volunteered to serve on American's Customer Assistance Relief Effort Team, or CARE Team, which helps survivors and victims' families deal with the aftermath of air crashes.
Struthers and Paul Mills, a manager from American's Chicago hub, were assigned to care for Chu and Ouachita Baptist University student Luke Hollingsworth, another survivor of the June 1, 1999, crash that killed 11.
Both men testified by videotape Monday.
Their notes indicate their perception of Chu's actions and feelings and show every movement they made on her behalf. They bought Chu food and a Caller ID box. They took her to the hospital to visit Rachel Fuller, the badly burned 14-year-old Chu had cared for at the crash scene. They bought the teddy bear that Chu gave the Fuller family.
But Mills had to leave the assignment early, on June 7, to return home; his wife could not care for their young children and still work while he was away. That left Struthers, who was on his first CARE Team assignment, in charge of both Chu and Hollingsworth.
Struthers' June 9 notes mentioned Chu's continuing terror of driving and flying and that he "stressed over and over" that she contact the Red Cross about obtaining counseling.
The next day, he wrote he was going to Chu's house "one final time." He gave her all the phone numbers she would need, took a description of her still-missing luggage and considered her case, as far as he could help, closed.
He wrote, "All topics have been addressed. Have set up Caller ID and display. Contact ended at [noon. Passenger] very happy with AA's response."
That night, Struthers and Chu slept together.
Struthers said Chu, then 35, was the one who initiated the relationship. It started with her having a sore neck, and he massaged it. He said she took over from there.
"We were a couple," he said.
In the hour's worth of video shown Monday, Struthers answered mostly "yes" and "no" and appeared frightened. Several times, he admitted, "I broke the rules."
Under questioning from one of Chu's lawyers, Frank Branson, Struthers agreed he'd been trained to gain Chu's confidence and trust and he should have known that survivors often become attached to their CARE Team workers.
"Did you do anything to discourage her confidence in you?" Branson asked.
"We discussed pursuing a relationship ... but it hadn't crossed my mind until she brought it up," Struthers answered.
At the close of direct testimony, Branson entered into evidence an e-mail Struthers sent Chu as the two were breaking up, eight months after the affair began.
Struthers wrote that he'd been on the Internet and read accounts of other survivors' problems since the crash. "I thought I was helping you, instead I may have been hurting you," he wrote.
Branson noted that the two-day training program CARE Team members received was less time than Struthers had spent learning to tend bar.
Earlier, Pliszka testified by videotape that he had delayed firing Struthers because it would drive Struthers "over the edge." He said he waited two months before telling Struthers he'd have to be let go for breaking the company's rule against fraternizing with a survivor. And then he allowed Struthers to quit.
The trial continues with more of Struthers' testimony today. Chu also is scheduled to testify, perhaps as early as today.
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