Can you sue tsa

What it does not tell flyers is that, upon seeing cash, Transportation Security Administration TSA screeners will detain them and turn them over to law enforcement, who will take their money without any cause for suspicion and without filing any criminal charges.

Now, thanks to our class action lawsuit, we are going to uncover the truth behind how and why the government is targeting innocent flyers, and ultimately put an end to this predatory practice. The class action lawsuit was filed in January on behalf of Terry Rolin and his daughter Rebecca Brown. Additional named plaintiffs joined the suit in July The agency returned her money after she joined the lawsuit and nine months after it was seized.

Circuit Court of Appeals overturned earlier rulings and is a setback for the Transportation Security Administration and its screeners. The government is generally immune from lawsuits, but a federal law lets people sue over the actions of officers who can conduct searches and arrest people. A district court and a three-judge panel of the same appeals court said TSA officers are just screeners who inspect passengers and bags. The full appeals court said, however, that screeners aren't entitled to immunity from lawsuits because they perform searches for violations of federal law.

The court majority noted that TSA calls the screeners officers, they wear uniforms with badges including that title, and hold positions of authority. The judges also rejected the government's argument that airport screening is different from a search because airline passengers consent to it. They said it's indeed a search — noting that screeners can explore a passenger's entire body including sensitive areas.

It is a victory for Nadine Pellegrino, a business consultant from Boca Raton, Florida, who with her husband sued for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution over a July incident at Philadelphia International Airport. Pellegrino, then 57, had objected to the invasiveness of a random screening prior to her scheduled boarding of a US Airways flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was accused of striking a TSA officer.

She was eventually jailed for about 18 hours and charged with assault, making terroristic threats and other crimes, which she denied. Pellegrino was acquitted at a March trial. The Department of Justice, representing the TSA, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.