Starling HitTest from Stage

Question

I'm using something like this in the main class that seperates Starling and Away3D

stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN,hitTest);
        stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP,hitTest);

    private function hitTest(e:MouseEvent):void
    {

        if(_starling.root.hitTest(new Point(stage.mouseX, stage.mouseY)) == null)
            switch (e.type){
            case "mouseUp":
                pano.onMouseUp(e);
                break;
            case "mouseDown":
                pano.onMouseDown(e);
                break;
            }

    }

Which works well to pass mouse events through the Starling to Away3d.

I'm now using a Drawers layout, and need to detect if the event is in the content element (which is an empty LayoutGroup), and pass it through, or if it's in the left or right drawers, which need to be captured in Starling.

I've tried checking the hitTest response which comes back [Object quad] or it's parent is [Object drawers].

Is there anyway to detect if the hit object is my empty container and thus pass mouse clicks/touches through to Away3d?