Hawaiian Air
pilot wins partial
court victory

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Associated Press

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has handed a partial victory to a Hawaiian Airlines pilot who accused company officials of illegally entering his secure Internet site seven years ago.

A District Court in California had granted summary judgment against all but one of the claims Robert Konop made in a lawsuit he filed against Hawaiian. On the remaining claim of retaliation, the District Court ruled against Konop following a bench trial.

The San Francisco-based appeals court affirmed on Friday the retaliation verdict and the summary judgment against claims by Konop that the airline violated the Wiretap Act.

However, the appellate court reversed the District Court's summary judgment against claims Konop made against the airline under the Stored Communications Act.

It also reversed the summary judgment against Konop's claim that the airline was guilty of violating the Railway Labor Act for alleged interference with organizing activities, wrongful support of a union faction, and coercion and intimidation.

Airline spokesman Keoni Wagner said he had no immediate comment on the appeals court ruling.

In 1995, Konop's Web site criticized proposed wage concessions that were supported at the time by the Air Line Pilots Association, and urged pilots to consider getting new union representatives.

The site was intended only for certain pilots who were required to log in with a user name and password.

The lawsuit said an airline official gained access to the site and alerted the union to it after asking a pilot who was eligible to view it for permission to use the pilot's user name and password.

Konop has worked for Hawaiian Airlines for 18 years.