Gerald Tamura wrote: "I wondered exactly how much United Airlines can actually be responsible for? They did have the right to remove Dr. Dao but they were not responsible on how Dr. Dao was removed. "
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It may be that the flight was not legally "overbooked" because the airline employees who United wanted to give Dr. Dao and other paying passengers seats to do not pay a fare.  If that is the case, United removed Dr. Dao in violation of Federal Law because the flight was not, by definition, overbooked.  The article stated that "Munoz did not apologize to Dao and defended the airline's actions, saying Dao had been 'disruptive and belligerent.'"  It may be that Munoz has not retracted his statement for legal reasons, because Dao's alleged behavior could be used by United Airlines as justification for calling in law enforcement.