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The incident alleged in the lawsuit occurred on Jan. 6 when the girl was on a return trip from San Diego where she was visiting her father, a Marine who was on leave. Her mother, a 31-year-old property manager from Huntsville, was set to meet the plane in Atlanta.

"Seated next to her was a child molester who switched seats so that neither were in their assigned seats," the suit reads... "

I agree. Just too many gaps in execution and information, to wit:

-The incident happened in January and the lawsuit is just being filed in October?

-Nobody is sitting in their assigned seat, so the passenger list (if it still exists) cannot be used to identify the possible assailant (other than placing every man on the flight under suspicion).

-Terminal surveillence tapes get recycled periodically. Given the amount of time since the incident occurred, the possibility of using it to make an identification is probably gone as well.

- Finally, before getting too committed to the story, remember that kids do make up some pretty serious things out of whole cloth and that false claims to extort money from public accommodations do get made from time to time.

To be fair, the terrible converse must be held to be possible as well; that a young girl traveling alone WAS molested on a flight from San Diego to Atlanta.